One thing that people who require long-term care need is money. If an elderly individual in need of care is a veteran or the widow of a veteran, he...
Eldercare Lawyer Blog
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...
Big Win For the Elderly
Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the court immediately below the United States Supreme Court, issued a decision...
Watch Those Beneficiary Designations
Last month, the Supreme Court of the United States decided a case that can serve as a warning to a great many people. The case is entitled Kennedy...
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...
Disability Planning 101
I read that 55% of people die without a last will and testament. That statistic doesn't surprise me at all. I think Wills are the subject of much...
The New Federal Estate and Gift Tax
In mid-December 2010, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act...
Keeping It in The Family
Many younger family members provide care to older family members. For instance, a mother might move in with her daughter, and the daughter might...
Taxing Your House
June 2012: Taxing Your House Many of the people with whom I meet are still confused about the taxability of the profit they realize upon the sale of...
Do I Need a Power of Attorney?
What is the difference between a power of attorney and a guardianship? In one form or another, I find myself answering this question several times a...
Will Barack Obama Increase the Federal Estate Tax?
"We need to change our estate planning documents before the end of the year when the Bush tax cuts expire." For the past month or two, some couple...
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Recent Posts
Should I Have a Trust?
“Should I have a trust?” I get this question a lot from clients. There is no one answer to this question; just as there is no one trust. In order to understand if you should have a trust, you have to understand what a trust is. A trust is a fiduciary relationship...
Joint Ownership Can Cause Problems
“Should I add one of my children to my bank account?” It is a question I have received on a regular basis from clients for the past twenty plus years. A parent adding one (or more) child’s name to a financial account (bank account, brokerage account, etc.) is...
The New Jersey Exit Tax
There are no assets more important to a person than her home. I meet with clients every day who ask me questions about protecting their homes from one perceived issue or another. In this article, I will address some of the legal issues that affect a person’s home...
Wait … Is This Even Legal?
There are many misconceptions that surround elder law. The defining feature of elder law is Medicaid planning. Medicaid planning is a form of estate plan through which an attorney assists a client in qualifying for Medicaid benefits. Medicaid is a health payment...
Do I Need To List My Assets in My Will?
Does a last will and testament have to list all of your assets? Many of my clients believe that a Will must list all of their assets—who gets the house, who gets this bank account, this stock, etc. A Will is a document that controls the disposition of a person’s...
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