Blog: News & Insights

Here is a situation a client of mine encountered recently that I thought was worth sharing. The client gave me permission to quote her email verbatim. The parent had signed a Will some years ago leaving the estate equally to the 3 children. One provision said ” I direct that my 3 children obtain a joint appraisal of my coin collection. I then direct that the collection be sold to a...

Every day, families are struggling to care for their loved ones at home. The patient may be young with severe disabilities, special needs and nursing needs, or may be aging and unable to live alone due to dementia, confusion or physical weakness. The patient may be dependent on complex durable medical equipment such as  a ventilator, and may require frequent attention from trained attendants,...

Under the “doctrine of necessaries,” a married person in New Jersey is responsible for their spouse’s support, which includes long-term health care. Jersey Shore Med. Center/Fitkin v Baum (NJ Supreme Court 1990). In that case, the Court dealt with whether a widow was legally responsible for the unpaid medical bills of her late husband. Up to that time, the husband would have...

On the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Twitter feed, they announced that the Newark VBA Regional Office will hold a clinic on Wednesday, October 14, 2015 from 10AM to 2PM at the Newark City Hall.  Link to the twitter feed at Newark (NJ) Regional Office holding Claims Clinic on 10/14 from 10am-2pm at Newark City Hall (Main Rotunda). pic.twitter.com/VYbyHx4PtC — Veterans Benefits...

The Senate’s Committee on Veterans’ Affairs commonly holds hearings on a variety of issues effecting veterans. Most recently, the Committee held a hearing entitled, “Examining the Impact of Exposure to Toxic Chemicals on Veterans and the VA’s Response.” The testimony submitted at the hearing provides a good overview of issues pertaining to Agent Orange...

I normally don’t comment on proposed federal legislation regarding Title 38 (Department of Veterans Affairs) unless I feel reasonably certain that the legislation is likely to be passed in some form.  A recent Military Times article, however, identified two issues that have been ongoing within the Department of Veterans Affairs: (1) Title 38 benefits for veterans exposed to VOCs at Camp...

As documented in our August 4, 2015 post, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is continuing research and consideration of issues related to volatile organic compound (VOC) exposure  at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  The August 4, 2015 VA Press Release is again contained at http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2720. Within the last week, the Agency for Toxic Substance and...

As we had previously blogged, a number of veterans we represent involve the question of whether the veteran had sufficient service at or near Vietnam to qualify for presumption of service connection under 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(a). In one such claim, located travel orders out of Vietnam provided sufficient information for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to grant service connection for...

I discussed in a previous post that increasing numbers of individuals with intellectual disabilities are living into their 60’s. What is now being seen is that the aging process for that child — including diseases of old age such as dementia — may start occurring when they are in their 50’s. The parent(s) may be in their 70’s or 80’s, with health care...

A question was posed a last week regarding how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would rate Female Sexual Arousal Disorder (FSAD).  While the condition is usually rated by analogy, I was able to recall that the VA had proposed a new diagnostic code for FSAD to Title 38’s Schedule for Rating Disabilities early this year.  While I don’t believe this particular proposed change...