This past week the New Jersey Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law the Uniform Trust Code. The Uniform Trust Code, or UTC, is a...
Eldercare Lawyer Blog
Will Medicaid Pay for That?
A recently decided case gives some insight into the nitty-gritty workings of the Medicaid program and offers hope for the most vulnerable among us....
New Jersey ABLE Act: What You Need to Know
The ABLE Act gives individuals with disabilities a way to save money without jeopardizing important benefits like Medicaid and SSI. New Jersey...
Drafting Wills for a Married Couple
When drafting Wills for a husband and wife, each member of the couple has his or her own Will. In other words, the wife has a last will and...
Abandonment of the Child: Legal Considerations
When a person dies without a Will, he is said to have died intestate. When a person dies with a Will, he is said to have died testate. When a person...
Is the New Jersey Estate Tax Dead?
There is a story brewing that says the New Jersey Legislature is considering revising the New Jersey estate tax law. Over the past few years, there...
Is There a Federal Estate Tax
A new year is upon us. Another year is passing. So I thought it was a good time to write about death. Well, more specifically, the tax associated...
How Much Can I Gift
Almost every week I get a client asking me how much he can gift before he has to pay gift tax or before the person to whom he gives the gift has to...
A Must-Read Book on Estate and Medicaid Planning
As those of you who read my column on a regular basis know, I wrote a book on elder law entitled, New Jersey Elder Law: A Resource and Planning...
Changing the Terms of a Trust
A case recently decided by a court in Massachusetts reminds me of an interesting issue affecting the Medicaid program here in New Jersey. In the...
What Is a Guardianship?
For those of you interested in elder law, here is an excerpt from my book, entitled New Jersey Elder Law: A Resource and Planning Guide. The book...
When Recovery Efforts Go Further Than Expected
Medicaid is a health payment program for needy individuals. In other words, if a person meets the criteria for eligibility, Medicaid will pay for...
When Sharing an Account Starts to Shift Control
Many elderly people add a child’s name to their bank accounts. The reason most elderly people do this is to permit the child to access the account...
Medicaid Penalty Periods Explained
A recent decision of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, serves as a cautionary tale for those seeking to qualify for Medicaid...
Federal Victory for Annuities
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently decided a case that greatly impacts Medicaid planning in New Jersey. I was...
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Recent Posts
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 of 2010 (the "Tax Act"). The Tax Act makes some interesting modifications to the laws governing the federal estate and...
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 provide care to the mother in order to enable the mother to live at home instead of in a nursing home. The care that the...
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 their house. A surprising number of people continue to believe that the gain that is realized upon the sale of their...
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 week. First of all, you have to start with the premise that all individuals over the age of eighteen are presumed to be...
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 has come to my office making this statement. People believe now that President Obama has been re-elected, the federal...
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