Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog

Nina Weiss, Esq., an attorney/mediator and partner with the law firm of Serra/Weiss in Princeton, NJ, is a founding member of the Elder Mediation Center of New Jersey (EMCNJ). Mediator Weiss was quoted in the March 2, 2008 edition of The Wall Street Journal in an article describing the growing recognition and use of elder [...]

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(I am happy to introduce my first guest blogger, Marcie D. Cooper. Marcie is a geriatric care manager with several advanced degrees and licenses, such as an MSW, LCSW, and C-ASWCM. She is the owner of her own care management company, aptly named Marcie Cooper Care Manager, LLC, located in Fair Lawn, NJ. I have [...]

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We will announce the re-opening on the home page of www.dvanarelli.com very soon. Thank you for your patience.

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(The following is based upon a real discussion that recently took place on an elder law listserv for attorneys. It illustrates the misinformation that is often inadvertently provided to consumers by government agency personnel concerning the availability of and eligibility criteria for needs-based public benefits.) Question: I recently contacted the Veterans Administration (VA) about applying [...]

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a new State Medicaid Directors Letter concerning “hospital acquired conditions.” The gist of the letter is that as of October 1, 2008 Medicare will stop reimbursing hospitals for the extra cost of treating certain conditions that, evidence shows, should not occur if treatment in the [...]

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Federal law allows nursing homes to evict residents for six reasons: they are healthy enough to return home; they require care not offered at the nursing home; they risk the health of other residents or staff; they endanger the safety of other residents or staff; they do not pay their bills; or the nursing home [...]

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A part of my practice involves mediation and collaborative legal practice. Both mediation and collaborative practice are dispute resolution techniques used as a alternative to litigation to settle a dispute. I believe that settlement, which is a product of mutual agreement, is almost always better than litigation. Settlement involves the principal of self-determination. That is, [...]

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New Jersey Lawyer (NJL), the official newspaper of the New Jersey Bar, recently took a look ahead to describe the practice of law in New Jersey in the future. The newspaper’s focus was on how the practice of law will change in the coming decade. To describe the future of the law in New Jersey, [...]

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