New Jersey Estate Planning, Probate, Tax & Elder Law Center

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Latest Medicaid Information for New Jersey for 2011

Protections for the Community Spouse: Community Spouse Resource Allowance (CSRA): Minimum: $21,912 Maximum: $109,560 Increased CSRA: Permitted. New Jersey follows the income-first rule. Annuities: Actuarially sound annuities are not permitted. Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance: Minimum: $1,821.25 Maximum: $2,739 Transfers: Average monthly cost of nursing home care: $6,655 Has a Long-Term Care Partnership program been implemented? [...]

Top 9 Most Expensive Medicaid Mistakes

1. Mistakenly thinking it’s too late to plan. Even after a person has moved to a nursing home it is not too late to plan.  Our law firm can assess your situation and provide you with numerous options.  2. Transferring assets too early. Some think the solution is to simply give everything they have to [...]

Beware PODs and TODs

Virtually any bank or brokerage account can provide that it is paid on death (“POD”) or transferred on death (“TOD”) to named beneficiaries. And IRAs, 401Ks, pension plans and insurance policies are typically made payable to designated beneficiaries. Nevertheless, these beneficiaries are often named with relatively little reflection, and without taking into account what might [...]

Medicare and Medicaid Basics

Medicare Medicare Part A covers up to 100 days of “skilled nursing” care per spell of illness. However, the definition of “skilled nursing” and the other conditions for obtaining this coverage are quite stringent, meaning that few nursing home residents receive the full 100 days of coverage. As a result, Medicare pays for only about [...]

The Need for Long Term Care Planning

One of the greatest fears of older Americans is that they may end up in a nursing home. This not only means a great loss of personal autonomy, but also a tremendous financial price. Depending on location and level of care, nursing homes cost between $35,000 and $150,000 a year. Most people end up paying [...]

Estate Planning When a Spouse is Confronting Health Issues (Estate Planning for the Healthy Spouse)

When one spouse is a resident of a nursing facility or medical institution (the “institutionalized spouse”), but the other spouse continues to live in the community (the “community spouse”), the community spouse may take a number of steps to retain a maximum level of resources without jeopardizing the institutionalized spouse’s Medicaid eligibility.1 Medicaid is a [...]

Deficient Nursing Homes Listed

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the complete list of U.S. nursing homes that have failed to meet safety and quality standards for care.The list, which identifies 131 “Special Focus Facilities” that require additional oversight, follows the release in November 2007 of a list of 54 such facilities. At that [...]