Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog

Continuing Care Retirement Communities (“CCRCs”) are considered “a viable choice for relatively healthy seniors with upper-middle-class or upper-class incomes.” Begley, T. and Barrett, C., Representing the Elderly or Disabled Client, ¶9.03 at 9-10 (Thomson Reuters 2013). As described in a GAO report entitled “Older Americans: Continuing Care Retirement Communities Can Provide Benefits, but Not Without [...]

[Read more →]

A Rhode Island trial court holds that a niece who signed a nursing home admissions agreement on behalf of her aunt did not sign as a responsible party, and is therefore not personally liable for her aunt’s unpaid nursing home bill. Sunny View Nursing Home, Inc. v. Gorman (R.I. Super. Ct., No. KC 11-0491, Dec. 4, [...]

[Read more →]

For the past several years, I have represented Thomas Saccone, a retired Newark, NJ firefighter with a severely disabled adult child named Anthony. Anthony lives with his parents, is unable to work, has been found to be totally disabled by the Social Security Administration, and for many years has received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and [...]

[Read more →]

The cost for care in an assisted living facility (ALF) varies widely throughout the United States. You may have expected some states listed below to be expensive, but there are others with high costs which may surprise you. Is your state on the top 10  list for the most expensive yearly cost? 10. New Hampshire [...]

[Read more →]

An aged, low-income tenant with disabilities recently prevailed in a lawsuit filed against the Santa Monica Housing Authority, which had incorrectly increased her monthly rent by counting as income money received in a settlement and deposited into a Special Needs Trust. Sheila Finley v. City of Santa Monica, Case No. BS – 127077 (Superior Court [...]

[Read more →]

Soon after the passage of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), New Jersey’s Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, the State Medicaid agency, took the position that the penalty period, or period of ineligibility for Medicaid, resulting from transfers made during the look-back period by applicants for home or community – based services [...]

[Read more →]

Yesterday, a discussion took place on a New Jersey elder and disability law listserv between several attorneys who regularly handle cases involving Division Of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) clients concerning a recent and significant change to the availability of DDD day program services. I have recreated the listserv discussion below by combining statements made in emails [...]

[Read more →]

New Jerseyans with an autism spectrum disorder gained two laws recently which, it is hoped, will give them a better chance to lead meaningful, productive and independent lives. The first of the new laws, A-4226, expands New Jersey’s anti-discrimination law, the Law Against Discrimination, to ensure that no one who has autism and related neurological [...]

[Read more →]

[I received the following email from the National Senior Citizens Law Center and affiliated groups concerning a survey being conducted in order to “raise awareness of the issues facing older adults who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) and live in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other long-term care facilities.” Because I believe [...]

[Read more →]

Each of us who have been forced to admit a loved one into a nursing home or care facility due to chronic long-term illness hopes and expects that he or she will receive good care there. But what does good long-term care look like? Would we recognize good care if we saw it? An interesting [...]

[Read more →]