Elder Law Tag

If you need to select a nursing home for a loved one, there are several factors you should take into consideration.

On March 3, 2021, Governor Murphy signed into law the LGBTQI+ Senior Bill of Rights, a sweeping civil rights law aimed at protecting New Jersey’s LGBTQI+ seniors living or thinking about moving into one of New Jersey’s 360+ long-term care facilities.

This is my tribute to the elders in our communities who have been so terribly affected by  the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Untouchable; Alone (April 16, 2020 Central Jersey) (c) Linda S. Ershow-Levenberg , all rights reserved Untouchable. Alone. He wants his daughter. Every morning she brought coffee and some news. She would tell him of the books that she was reading, trim his hair, or...

“No matter what, please keep me out of a nursing home!” How often do people hear their parents say this, as the parents enter their most senior years. The reality is that aging in place is a complex but achievable endeavor for most people. Whether you are the person who hopes to “age in place,” or you are the person who will have responsibility to make it happen, you...

There is a New Jersey insurance law which allows a person who is 62 years of age or older to designate an authorized third party to receive Policy Lapse Notices and Late Payment notices from the policyholder’s insurance company. This is a regulation at N.J.A.C. 11:2-19. The process is easy. Many companies will provide you with their own form upon request. For others, just send a written...

Here at Fink Rosner Ershow-Levenberg, LLC, we have just celebrated two major milestones. October 1st 2015 marked the 20-year anniversary of when I “hung out my shingle” as an elder law attorney in Union. After ten years representing state agencies and having my new cases just handed to me, opening a private practice was part “jumping off the diving board” and part...

I recently read a book I wish I had written myself. It’s called How to Care for Aging Parents (3rd Edition) by Virginia Morris, and was published by Workman Press in its most recent update in 2014. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is stepping up to the plate to assist a parent in later life when physical frailty or dementia are the primary causes for concern. The child often...

Click here to read Part I of this post now. Every day, people conduct their lives using cash payments. They go to ATMs or they write checks to “cash” and get cash from a bank teller. They use cash for groceries, and to pay their gardeners, hairdressers,   and snow shovelers. They hire people for home repairs big and small. They pay in cash for furniture or remodelling when the cash...

It’s possible that a few years from now, you’ll need to help someone apply for Medicaid to pay for assisted living, nursing home or home care. These applications are daunting. You can’t apply until the non-exempt assets are down to $2,000 or $4,000 (plus a protected amount for a community spouse), but the biggest challenge is dealing with the “5-year lookback.”...

Some years ago I was asked to help out “Mario”, who was about 80 and recently widowed after a long and happy marriage. He had Alzheimer’s Disease and was becoming disorganized. He had no kids, and his kin felt they could not step up and take on the job of assisting him. “Mario” was still living on his own in an apartment in Linden which was neat and tidy, and...