Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog

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. The 2009 increase is up from the 2.3 percent [...]

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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. In each seminar, team members will discuss the pros and cons of the various [...]

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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 in monthly installments, including [...]

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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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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. The new maximum monthly maintenance needs allowance is $2,739. The minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance remains [...]

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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. The new law was included in the controversial economic bailout package passed by Congress and [...]

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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.
The increase means that more can be given away for estate tax [...]

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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. 

If you work and are “full retirement age” [...]

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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. estate-of-landers-v-leavitt (2nd Cir., No. 06-4921-cv, Oct. 1, 2008).

 
Marion Landers, along with several other Medicare [...]

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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. In addition, 6.2% of children ages 5 to 15, or 2.8 million [...]

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