Over the past twenty-five years, I have drafted thousands of last wills, financial powers of attorney, and advanced health care directives. If I do...
Eldercare Lawyer Blog
Wills and Trusts
Trusts Can Be a Good Idea
Using a trust in your estate plan can be a valuable tool, but many people are intimidated and confused when they hear the word “trust.” A trust...
What Is a Spendthrift Trust?
What is a “spendthrift trust”? It’s a question I hear frequently from my clients. I find that more and more clients are interested in having...
Attention IRA Beneficiaries: Rule Change You Should Know
In December of 2019, the SECURE Act became law. Part of this new law was a change to how beneficiaries of qualified accounts (such as IRAs,...
Avoiding Government Interference
Almost every week a client asks me how to avoid “government interference” of his estate after their death. The client wants his children to have an...
Making a Federal Case of It: Update
Several months ago, I wrote a series of articles about various federal lawsuits that I had filed against the state of New Jersey. Like many states,...
The Well-Drafted Power of Attorney
I believe that anyone over the age of eighteen should have a financial power of attorney document. A power of attorney is a document that allows one...
Something New About Living Trusts
The benefit of practicing only one area of the law, as opposed to being a general practitioner, is that everyday you are focusing on one thing and,...
Alimony, Special Needs Trusts, and Victory
Recently, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey decided J.P. versus the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services....
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (the "DRA") is a comprehensive federal law that brought many changes to the federal Medicaid Act. In several of my...
Protecting Your Spouse
Long-term care costs a lot of money. A nursing home in this area can cost upwards of $9,000 a month. When one spouse requires nursing home care, the...
Protecting the Home
If I had to list the most frequently discussed topics that I have with my clients, protecting a house from the ravages of long-term care costs would...
Two-Pronged Attack
The state of New Jersey is at war with lawyers who engage in the practice of Medicaid planning. Medicaid is a medical assistance program for needy...
Paving the Way To Federal Court
The other week, a federal judge made a ruling in one of the federal cases that I filed, paving the way for that lawsuit to proceed against the State...
Making Your Federal Case
Those of you who read my column regularly (and I have to tell you, there are many of you) know that I have been engaged in a series of lawsuits...
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Recent Posts
The Step Up in Basis Myth
After more than 26 years practicing elder law in New Jersey, I have noticed that misconceptions tend to arrive in waves. The same misunderstanding will surface from multiple clients in a short span of time, often with near-identical wording. Recently, a new wave has...
The Medicaid Spend Down
When a family faces the staggering cost of long-term care, Medicaid often becomes the only realistic way to pay for nursing home, assisted living, or in-home care. But qualifying for Medicaid requires meeting strict financial limits, and that is where the Medicaid...
Not All Trusts Protect Assets the Same Way
When clients come to my office asking about living trusts, they often arrive with the assumption that a trust is a trust. That any trust will protect their assets, simplify their estate, and spare their family from the headaches of probate. The reality is more...
A Trust Isn’t Always the Default Answer
When people begin the estate planning process, they often hear that they “need a trust.” The truth is more nuanced. Trusts can be extremely useful, but the right kind of trust depends entirely on your goals, your assets, and your family circumstances. For most people,...
Understanding the Medicaid Five-Year Lookback Period
When someone applies for long-term care Medicaid, one of the most important rules is the five-year lookback period. This rule determines whether the applicant made any gifts or transfers of assets that could delay eligibility for benefits. Despite frequent...
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