Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog

Matter of Mildred B. Trocolor involved a dispute between two of the decedent’s adult children who were co-executors of the decedent’s estate. The decedent’s daughter, Daryl, brought the lawsuit, alleging that, while the decedent, Mildred B. Trocolor, was alive, the defendants, her brother Robert and his wife, Genevieve, stole substantial sums of money from the [...]

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In a victory to the contesting parent, the dismissal of a daughter’s guardianship application without a hearing was recently affirmed by the Appellate Division in In re Keeter, No. A-0553-10T4 (May 11, 2011). Keeter centered on a daughter’s application seeking guardianship of her 89-year old mother. The application was supported by a certification of the [...]

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In Freeman v. Shinseki, No. 10-1462 (U.S. Ct. App. Vet. Claims April 26, 2011), 2011 U.S. App. Vet. Claims LEXIS 906, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims handed a partial victory to a veteran attempting to challenge the VA’s appointment of a third-party fiduciary, instead of petitioner’s sister, to control his finances. The [...]

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(The following is part of a discussion, taken from a listserv, or electronic bulletin board, concerning benefits available for veterans, their dependents and survivors from the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA)”.) Question: Assume the following facts – an applicant for needs-based pension benefits from the VA signs a deed gifting income-producing real estate to an [...]

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Same-sex domestic partners are closer to receiving the spousal protections that opposite-sex married couples get when they receive long-term care through Medicaid — that is, the healthy partner soon may be able to keep some of the ill partner’s money and remain in the same-sex partners’ home. In New Jersey like most states, nursing-home residents [...]

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A New Jersey appeals court ruled that the penalty period for a Medicaid applicant who transferred funds to her son could not begin until she became financially eligible for Medicaid, which occurred only after the son used all the transferred assets to pay the cost of the applicant’s care. S.S. v. Division of Medical Assistance [...]

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