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Elder Law

Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog

New Jersey Elder Law, Estate and Special Needs Planning, Mediation and Collaborative Family Law.
By Donald D. Vanarelli

Post Frequency: 5.2/day

Last Entry: July 09, 2009 at 18:18:42

The Basics of VA Pension Benefits

Posted on January 26, 2009
A. The Difference Between VA Compensation and VA Pension Benefits. A veteran who suffered an injury or contracted a disease while on active duty, and the injury or disease was the result of the veteran’s service or was exacerbated by the veteran’s service, can receive monthly income from the U...

Federal Court Again Rules That The Payment Stream From An Annuity Paid To The Spouse Of A Nursing Home Resident Is Not Countable In Determining The Nursing Home Resident?s Eligibility For Medicaid

Posted on January 23, 2009
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, in a case entitled Weatherbee v. Richman, ____ F. Supp. _____ (C.A. No. 07-134, January 22, 2009), has issued an opinion essentially following the reasoning of the United States Court of Appeals of the Third Judicial Circuit in the James v...

Uniform Adult Guardianship And Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act

Posted on January 22, 2009
The Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceeding Jurisdiction Act (UAGPPJA) has been endorsed by the New Jersey State Bar Association, and is scheduled for introduction in the state legislature for consideration and possible adoption. The Act addresses the issue of jurisdiction over adult guardianships, conservatorships, and other protective proceedings, providing a mechanism for resolving multi-state jurisdictional [...

CMS issues new POMS for trusts

Posted on January 21, 2009
A new Programs Operations Manual System (POMS), used by Social Security Administration employees to administer the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs, has recently been issued by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for trusts under the heading ?SI 01120...

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SSA Adopts ?Preponderance of the Evidence? Standard

Posted on January 19, 2009
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has issued a final rule that applies the ?preponderance of the evidence? standard, not the ?substantial evidence? standard, to decisions made in claims at all levels of administrative review, including decisions made by an administrative law judge...

SSA Online Retirement Tools

Posted on January 18, 2009
Retirement Estimator.� The Social Security Administration (SSA) has a new on-line calculator that allows authenticated individuals to calculate estimates of potential retirement benefits in real time, based in part on their SSA-maintained records and in part on information they enter...

Legal Podcasting

Posted on January 17, 2009
A podcast is a series of audio or video digital media files which is distributed over the Internet to portable media players and personal computers. According to Wikipedia, the word “podcast” stands for “Personal On Demand broadCASTING...

Top 10 (Actually 14) New Jersey Guardianship / Elder Law / Medicaid and Public Benefits Planning Cases

Posted on January 15, 2009
In my years of practicing elder law and guardianship litigation, I?ve become accustomed to meeting with elderly clients and their families who are shocked when I inform them that Medicare, the medical insurance which covers the medical bills of most elderly clients, does not pay for long-term care costs, either at home or in a [...

Law Is Far From The Worst Profession; Lawyers Rank Substantially Higher Than Nuclear Decontamination Technicians

Posted on January 12, 2009
In spite of all of the complaining that lawyers do about their jobs and clients do about their lawyers, law is far from the worst profession one can have, a recent study finds. Of 200 jobs rated by Careercast based on environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress, the 10 most desirable jobs were [...

Top 6 New Jersey Elder Law Cases in 2008

Posted on January 11, 2009
There were 6 significant cases published in New Jersey in 2008 in the area of elder law, the majority of which came out of the administrative forum. That is, 5 of the following 6 cases were issued by the Office of Administrative Law. All of the cases involved elderly clients who engaged in Medicaid estate [...

Key Decisions in Setting Up a Special Needs Trust

Posted on January 10, 2009
Simply defined, a trust is an agreement between two people — a grantor who donates funds to the trust and a trustee who manages those funds according to the grantor’s wishes, which are laid out in a trust document. The funds in the trust are typically used to assist a person or group, called the [...

The Trustee of a Special Needs Trust for an Adult Disabled Person May Make Distributions for Pornographic Materials According to Several Special Needs Legal Specialists

Posted on January 10, 2009
A recent question to the Academy of Special Needs Planners (ASNP) members-only Listserv generated a great deal of discussion about when a trustee can or should exercise discretion in approving payments from special needs trust funds for pornographic materials...

Can The Costs Of Care In An Assisted Living Facility Be Deducted On Your Federal Individual Income Tax Returns As Medical Expenses?

Posted on January 08, 2009
The costs of nursing home care can be deducted on federal individual income tax returns as medical expenses under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) � 7702B because they are considered “qualified long-term care costs”.� However, the status of Assisted Living Facility (ALF) costs has not been as clear...

Social Security Announces That It Is Beginning to Take Applications On-Line

Posted on January 07, 2009
The Social Security Administration, envisaging the near-future prospect of 10,000 baby boomers applying for benefits every day for the next 20 years, has put together a new on-line service that will allow people to get their benefits without ever traveling to a Social Security field office...

2009 One Page Tax Summary for Qualified Long Term Care Insurance

Posted on January 06, 2009
Attached is a one page summary of the tax benefits of tax-qualified long term care insurance for 2009, from the Corporation for Long Term Care Certification. The information is organized by type of taxpayer, so it is a quick reference for individuals or business owners.

Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog: Best of 2008

Posted on January 03, 2009
In a sense, it seems arrogant to present a list of ?best of? posts when my blog is so new, and I am a novice blogging lawyer . My blog went ?live? only about eight months ago, as I posted my first article on April 21, 2008. My blog is part of my website (New [...

It is illegal to evict any tenant in New Jersey just because the landlord owns a dwelling with a mortgage that is being foreclosed

Posted on January 02, 2009
After receiving complaints from tenants who received letters telling them that they had to vacate foreclosed premises, New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald Chen wrote to three real estate agencies and their attorneys in December 2008 to inform them that it is illegal to evict any tenant in New Jersey just because the landlord owns a [...

Social Security Announces Nationwide Launch of Compassionate Allowances Initiative

Posted on January 02, 2009
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has launched a national rollout of the agency?s Compassionate Allowances initiative, a way to expedite the processing of disability claims for applicants whose medical conditions are so severe that their conditions obviously meet the SSA?s standards...

Happy New Year 2009

Posted on December 31, 2008
God Bless You and Your Family. God Bless Our Troops. God Bless America. May You Have a Joyous New Year.

Advice for Claimants for Social Security and SSI Disability Benefits

Posted on December 31, 2008
1. Claims for Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims based on disability, usually take a long time to process. The decision on an initial claim will usually take months. If you get denied on your initial claim, and you usually will, the next step in the appeals process, called a [...

54.4 Million Americans, About 1 In 5 US Residents, Report That They Are Disabled To Some Extent

Posted on December 30, 2008
About one in five U.S. residents - 19% - reported some level of disability, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released recently.� Among those disabled Amercians, 35 million, or 12% of the population, were classified as having a severe disability...

Seniors and the Disabled Get Tax Rebate Expansion From Corzine

Posted on December 29, 2008
More senior citizens and disabled homeowners now are eligible to� receive property tax rebates, thanks to a bill signed by Governor Jon S. Corzine on December 18th.� The bill (A-3460), which was signed at the Bergen County borough’s activity center, increased the income eligibility limit for senior and disabled homeowners...

Study from the Society of Actuaries suggests that retirees should plan for 3 distinct stages of retirement

Posted on December 28, 2008
In a recent study, “Three Phases of Retirement and Planning for the Unexpected,” the Society Of Actuaries (SOA) identified three stages of retirement and offered advice on how to prepare for each stage of retirement. The SOA said that retirement is often depicted as life on the golf course, holidays with the grandchildren, and traveling [...

My Blogging Goals for 2009

Posted on December 26, 2008
Recently, some of the blogs I read regularly have begun listing blogging goals for 2009. For example, see this post on Daily Blog Tips. For some blogs, the listing of blogging goals seems to have become an annual event. In fact, several bloggers, after listing their goals for the upcoming year, have looked back to [...

Why Public-Benefits Planning is Absolutely Essential for the Frail Elderly and Disabled in New Jersey: 13 of the 20 Highest Property Taxed Counties in the Nation are Located in New Jersey

Posted on December 24, 2008
The next time you must defend the decision either 1) to provide help to families by accelerating eligibility for public benefits based on need, like nursing home Medicaid, or 2) to engage in estate planning to protect yourself and your family from the catastrophic costs of nursing home care, I suggest that you confront the [...

A Roundup of Key Elder Law Numbers for 2009

Posted on December 23, 2008
Below is compilation of Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and other figures for 2009 that are of interest to the elderly, the disabled and their families. Source: ElderLawAnswers.com Medicaid Spousal Impoverishment Figures for 2009 - effective January 1, 2009 In 2009, the spouse of a Medicaid recipient living in a nursing home (called the “community spouse”) may keep [...

Holiday Greetings To My Readers

Posted on December 20, 2008
To each of you and to your families, I wish you a rejuvenating, fulfilling, awe-inspiring, enlightening, and fun-filled holiday, with plenty of good eatin? too, whether that holiday is Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, Festivus (The Holiday for the Rest of Us) or any other winter holiday that you celebrate! ???? (peace)��? (joy) ��? (love) ?? �???? ???? [...

Professor Donald D. Vanarelli speaks at ICLE Elder Law College on Social Security and SSI Issues

Posted on December 20, 2008
On December 16, 2008, I spoke at the 2008 ?Elder Law College?, held at the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick, NJ. I was the ?Professor?, for one day, of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income Law. This is how the NJ Institute of Continuing Legal Education described the seminar: 2008 ELDER LAW COLLEGE: Presented [...

NJ Supreme Court Lifts Ban On SUPER LAWYER, BEST LAWYER Advertising

Posted on December 19, 2008
Ending months of anticipation, New Jersey’s highest court has struck down Opinion 39, a prohibition on attorneys advertising their selections in Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review and other comparative ratings guides...

Survival Guide for Veterans

Posted on December 19, 2008
As stated in the December 19th Editorial in the New York Times, veterans often find themselves desperately short of the information they need as they attempt to obtain the benefits available from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. However, one promising new source of information is now available: a 599-page guide to veterans? issues, from educational [...

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