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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

Social Security Benefits to Rise 5.8 Percent, Biggest Leap Since 1982

Posted on October 31, 2008
The nation’s roughly 53 million elderly and disabled Social Security recipients will get their biggest pay hike since 1982 — a 5.8 percent cost of living increase in payments in 2009. This is expected to raise the average monthly payment for the typical beneficiary by $63...

Exploring Divorce: Upcoming Seminars Led By An Interdisciplinary Team

Posted on October 30, 2008
You are invited to explore the legal, financial and psychological issues involved in divorce in comprehensive seminars led by an interdisciplinary team of attorneys, financial experts, child specialists and mental health professionals. There are separate seminars offered for men and women...

New Medicaid Planning Strategy Held To Be Valid In New Jersey In An Important New Case

Posted on October 29, 2008
As I reported in a May 22, 2008 blog posting several months ago, I received a denial notice from the Middlesex County welfare agency in a case in which the applicant?s Medicaid eligibility plan involved making a loan to a relative. The borrowing relative signed a promissory note agreeing to repay the note each month, including [...

My article on Elder Mediation published in the New Jersey Lawyer newspaper

Posted on October 28, 2008
My article on Elder Mediation was published on October 20, 2008 in the Focus Section of the New Jersey Lawyer newspaper which covered current issues in Estate and Elder Law. As stated in the article, Elder Mediation provides a forum for family decision-making designed to achieve the following goals: ? To hear the concerns of the [...

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Medicaid Spousal Impoverishment Figures for 2009 Released by CMS

Posted on October 27, 2008
Updated Figures for 2009. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the community spouse resource allowance and the maximum monthly maintenance needs allowance for 2009. The new minimum CSRA is $21,912 and the new maximum is $109,560...

Mental Health Parity Finally Becomes Law

Posted on October 22, 2008
More than ten years after the measure was first proposed, Congress finally passed a law requiring that insurance companies provide enrollees suffering from mental illness with coverage equal to the coverage they would receive for any other type of condition...

Annual Gift Tax Exclusion Jumping to $13,000 Next Year

Posted on October 20, 2008
The annual gift tax exclusion will increase from $12,000 to $13,000 effective January 1, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced. The gift tax exclusion is the amount the IRS allows a taxpayer to gift to another individual without reporting the gift...

How Does Work Affect Your Social Security Payments?

Posted on October 18, 2008
Many people continue to work beyond retirement age, either by choice or out of necessity. But if you are receiving Social Security benefits, working may affect your benefit payments. Earning income above Social Security thresholds can cause a reduction in benefits and mean your benefits will be taxed...

Second Circuit Rules that Medicare?s Three-Day Hospitalization Requirement for Skilled Nursing Facility Coverage Starts at Inpatient Admittance

Posted on October 14, 2008
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that until a patient is formally admitted to a hospital as an inpatient, the clock does not begin to run on Medicare’s three-day hospital stay requirement to qualify for skilled nursing facility coverage...

Academy of Special Needs Planners is Featured in a Wall Street Journal Article on Estate Planning for Disabled Children and Adults with Special Needs

Posted on October 13, 2008
An article in the October 9th edition of The Wall Street Journal discussed estate planning for disabled children and adults with special needs. According to the WSJ, more than 41 million Americans, or almost 15% of the population, have some type of disability...

Payments of Nursing Home Costs Made by an Applicant?s Son for the Benefit of the Applicant are Held to Be Countable Resources for the Purpose of Determining Medicaid Eligibility

Posted on October 12, 2008
On September 30, 2008, NJ Administrative Law Judge Stephanie M. Wauters issued a written opinion in a case entitled E.S. vs. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services and Monmouth County Board of Social Services, OAL Docket No. HMA 14-08, ruling that the payment of care costs made to a nursing home by a Medicaid [...

CMS Issues Final Rule Enabling Medicaid Beneficiaries To Direct Personal Assistance Services

Posted on October 09, 2008
A final rule that would allow more Medicaid beneficiaries to be in charge of their own personal assistance services, including personal care services, instead of having those services directed by an agency, was announced on September 29, 2008 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)...

The October 17th edition of the Family Circle Magazine has a GREAT article on collaborative divorce entitled ?The Friendly Divorce?

Posted on October 08, 2008
The word is really starting to get out about the collaborative divorce process! The October 17th edition of the Family Circle Magazine has a GREAT article on collaborative divorce entitled ?The Friendly Divorce?. The article identifies four (4) benefits to couples who choose to divorce using the collaborative divorce process: Less Bitterness; Lower Expenses; Quicker Results; and, a Custom Solution...

A NJ Administrative Law Judge Recently Ruled That A Medicaid Applicant?s Prepayment For Care To Be Provided In The Future To A Family Member Under A Personal Services Contract Is A Transfer Of Assets For Less Than Fair Market Value, Resulting In The Imposition Of A Penalty

Posted on October 07, 2008
In a trio of cases which were consolidated because the cases presented a common question of law, NJ Administrative Law Judge Joseph A. Paone recently ruled that a Medicaid applicant?s prepayment for personal care services to be provided in the future to a family member under a Life Care Contract constituted a transfer of assets [...

NJ Appeals Court Allows Limited Disclosure of Psychiatrist?s Notes in Case Challenging Creation of a Supplemental Needs Trust

Posted on October 06, 2008
A New Jersey appeals court overturned the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that the defendants improperly created a supplemental needs trust, allowing the defendants limited access to the plaintiff’s psychotherapy records in order to rebut her claim that the trust’s settlor did not think she needed a trust...

Top 10 New Jersey Mediation Blogs

Posted on October 01, 2008
Technorati, the internet search engine that indexes and searches blogs, also analyzes the trends and themes of blogging. In its State of the Blogosphere 2008 annual report, Technorati reported that it indexed 133 million blogs since 2004, and has tracked blogs in 81 languages...

Report Finds That More Than 90% of Nursing Homes Violate Federal Health and Safety Laws

Posted on September 30, 2008
More than 90 % of U.S. nursing homes were cited last year for violating at least one federal health and safety law, the-new-york-times reported recently. About 17 percent of nursing homes had violations that led to “actual harm or immediate jeopardy” to residents, according to the report by the inspector general to the U...

A New York Appeals Court Holds That A Wife?s Usual Household Expenses Necessitate An Increased Maintenance Allowance Even Though Her Husband Is A Medicaid Recipient In A Nursing Home

Posted on September 29, 2008
A New York appeals court held that a community spouse is entitled to an increased minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance (MMMNA) because her basic monthly expenses are almost double her monthly income and therefore qualify as “exceptional circumstances” necessitating access to her husband’s income...

CMS? ?Never Ending Penalty Period? Rule Upheld in Appeal of Denial of Application for Assisted Living Facility Medicaid in New Jersey

Posted on September 26, 2008
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (?CMS?) states that the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (Pub. L. No. 109-171, 120 Stat. 4, 151) (?DRA?) does not permit a person to receive benefits under a Medicaid waiver program (including assisted living facility Medicaid) if there has been a transfer of assets within sixty months of the [...

CMS Never Ending Penalty Period Rule Upheld in Appeal of Denial of Application for Assisted Living Facility Medicaid in New Jersey

Kassin vs. Kassin: A Child Support Award, Reduced by Social Security Benefits Received By the Child, May Effect Alimony

Posted on September 25, 2008
In this divorce case, the trial court denied the defendant ex-husband’s post-divorce-judgment motion in which defendant sought (1) to terminate his alimony and child-support obligations, (2) relief from his obligation to maintain life insurance for the benefit of the parties’ children, and (3) a credit for Social Security benefits received by the plaintiff ex-wife for [...

I am now an Accredited Attorney under the regulations for the Department of Veterans Affairs

Posted on September 25, 2008
I am happy to report that, as of September 19, 2008, I am an accredited attorney for “the preparation, presentation and prosecution of claims for veterans benefits before the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).” The purpose of VA?s accreditation program is to ensure that claimants for VA benefits receive qualified assistance in preparing and presenting [...

SSA Updates Annual ?Fast Facts About Social Security?

Posted on September 24, 2008
Fast Facts & Figures answers the most frequently asked questions about the programs administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). It highlights basic program data for the Social Security (retirement, survivors, and disability) and Supplemental Security Income programs...

Medicare Part B Premium Unchanged For 2009

Posted on September 24, 2008
Medicare’s monthly premium will be unchanged at $96.40 next year for most of the 44 million beneficiaries in the U.S. health program for the elderly and disabled. This is the first time in eight years the rate won’t rise. Medicare fees will stay the same partly because the program’s reserves have increased, according to a [...

Preparing the Client for Mediation

Posted on September 22, 2008
People who carefully prepare for mediation usually achieve better results than those who do not. This may seem obvious, but it is a fact that most lawyers and clients enter mediations unprepared or only partially prepared. Knowledge equals power in the mediation arena, as in most pursuits, and thoroughly prepared participants tend to overwhelm less [...

T.H. V. DIV. OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES, 189 N.J. 478 (2007)

Posted on September 20, 2008
T.H. was a fifty-five year old man who suffers from Asperger?s Syndrome, a developmental disability. T.H. was cared for by his parents his entire lifetime. After T.H.?s parents died, T.H.?s family applied for services on his behalf pursuant to N.J.S.A...

Proposed Rule Addresses Problems that May Arise When A Medicaid Applicant Purchases A Long-Term Care Insurance Partnership Policy in One State and Then Applies for Medicaid In Another State

Posted on September 18, 2008
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a new notice addressing the problems that occur when a Medicaid applicant purchases a long-term care insurance “partnership” policy in one state and then applies for Medicaid in another state...

In an important case, a NJ administrative law judge decided that a bank account titled to a Medicaid applicant and another person does not automatically disqualify the applicant for Medicaid

Posted on September 16, 2008
New Jersey?s Office of Administrative Law recently issued a significant ruling that may make it easier to qualify for Medicaid. In K.R. vs. Somerset County Board of Social Services, O.A.L Docket No. HMA 12343-07 (Aug. 25, 2008), New Jersey’s Office of Administrative Law ruled that an account titled to a Medicaid applicant “or” another person [...

Social Security Administration Links with Special Emphasis on SSI and Special Needs Trusts

Posted on September 15, 2008
(I acknowledge with appreciation the Academy of Special Needs Planners website and the resources available to members which I used to compile the following list of links) PRIMARY SOURCES: Social Security Administration?s Main Page: Social Security Online - The Official Website of the U...

Top 10 New Jersey Elder Law Blogs

Posted on September 14, 2008
Actually, I could only find 9 blogs in the entire State of New Jersey covering elder law issues. A list of these 9 New Jersey elder law blogs follow, in no particular order: Elder Law Today Podcast by Yale S. Hauptman, Esq. Yale is the founder of his own law firm, Hauptman & Hauptman, P...

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