STAGGERING FIGURES The Alzheimer’s Association recently released its 2016 Alzheimer’s facts and figures report earlier this month with a long list of many facts and figures, as the reports name implies. While the Alzheimer’s Association produces and publishes its report yearly, the 2016 report highlights the personal financial impact that…
There is a relatively unknown or at least underutilized program in the law that can provide some important tax benefits for those who care for their elderly or special needs relatives. The Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) is a tax benefit that is often offered by employers for expenses that…
INCREASING IN FREQUENCY Guardians across the country are beginning to grapple with a larger phenomena of life in these United States: that we are a mobile society. Many times these decisions are made by legally competent adults who have the right to decide where they want to live. When it comes…
IN HOME PERSONAL ASSISTANTS If you already have New York Medicaid you may be eligible for managed long term care or in home care by a licensed Managed Long Term Care Agency (often simply referred to as MLTC). The animating thought is to ensure that older adults can remain in…
ANOTHER CELEBRITY CASE MAKING CHANGES In the last few months that Casey Kasem had on this earth, he was the center of a brouhaha between his daughter, Kerri Kasem, and her stepmother, Jean Kasem, Mr. Kasem’s second wife. More specifically, Kerri Kasem alleged that at the end of the Mr.…
LEADING COMPLAINT ABOUT NURSING HOME IS EVICTIONS On February 25, 2016 National Public Radio (NPR) ran a story about what is looking to become like a national epidemic: nursing home evictions. According to statistics between 8,000 and 9,000 nursing home residents complain each year about nursing home evictions. The problem…
CASE OF POTENTIALLY NATIONAL IMPORTANCE REPORTED IN NEW YORK TIMES On August 21, 2009 a tragic event occurred at a nursing home in the quaint coastal town of South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Elizabeth Barrow was over 100 years old at the time of the tragedy, but told her son on her…
NEW YORK PROTECTIONS Many people are leary about purchasing a pre-paid funeral. This blog discussed some of the issues common to prepaid funerals. In 2002, the American Association of Retired People (AARP) issued a consumer “scam alert” warning people to preplan but not prepay for their funerals. Indeed, often this…
GUARDIANSHIP CAN BE VACATED As this blog has discussed in some detail in the past, Adult Guardianship is a complicated area of the law, dealing with many sensitive issues of personal power, ability and basic competence. On a very basic level, guardianship is a judgment that is entered by a…
GOLDEN LIVING CENTER SEEKING TO FORCE ARBITRATION On December 18, 2015, national long term care facility operator, Golden Living Centers filed a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court to review a decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued on October 27, 2015. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined…