Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog

In a landmark ruling released on Thursday, June 28, 2012, the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Affordable Care Act”), President Obama’s health care overhaul passed in 2010.  National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 567 U.S.___ (2012). Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act in order to [...]

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Where an original last will and testament is lost or cannot be found upon the testator’s death, a photocopy of that will may be admitted to probate. In determining whether such relief is appropriate, “the key issue is whether the testator had the intent to revoke the missing will.” In re Estate of Schenecker, 2011 [...]

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In a recent precedential decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Judicial Circuit held that laws passed by the State of Pennsylvania designed to regulate special needs trusts (SNT) which placed greater restrictions on the SNTs than were contained in federal law governing SNTs “transgress[ed] federal intent” and were preempted by federal [...]

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Regulations governing the Social Security Administration (SSA) set forth a five-step sequential evaluation process for determining disability. As a result, every applicant who files a claim for disability benefits under both the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs must meet the five requirements in the rules in order to be approved for benefits. [...]

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The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently revised four sections of the Program Operations Manual System (POMS).  The POMS is a primary source of information used by Social Security employees to process claims for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Most of the changes to the POMS sections were administrative in nature. However, the [...]

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Under existing federal law, spouses who pass away can leave property of any value to their surviving spouses free of federal estate taxes. This is called the “unlimited marital deduction.” However, under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law passed in 1996, marriage is defined as “only a legal union between one man [...]

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The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) pension program is intended to provide money benefits to wartime veterans in financial need. It is available to veterans aged 65 and older and those with non-service connected disabilities, as well as to their surviving spouses and dependent children. To be eligible for VA pension benefits, a claimant must [...]

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An appeals court in New Jersey held that a nursing home resident’s adult child who signed a nursing home admission agreement as the “Responsible Party” can be sued in his/her individual capacity for monies owed to the facility for services rendered to the resident if the adult child fails to use the resident’s financial resources [...]

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