Elder Law, Medicaid, Veterans Benefits Planning: The Complete New Jersey Guide

Agenda / Content Covered

1. Ensuring Medicaid Eligibility While Preserving Assets
   9:00 - 9:45, Charles C. Bratton II
   1. Medicaid LTC Eligibility Criteria: Excluded and Countable Assets
   2. Spousal Protections
   3. Asset Transfers, Gifts, Promissory Notes
   4. Prepayment of Qualified Expenses
   5. "Medicaid Pending" and Nursing Homes
   6. Trusts in Medicaid Planning
   7. Lookback Period Requirements
2. Medicaid Application, Appeals, and Fair Hearings
   9:45 - 10:30, Matthew R. Bravette
   1. Filing Medicaid Application: Forms and Procedures Update
   2. Hearings and Appeals Process
   3. Requests for Reconsideration and Fair Hearing Practice
   4. Correcting the Damage Done Before You and Reflecting Life Changes
   5. What Can be Done About Penalty Periods of Ineligibility
   6. Home and Community-Based Medicaid Waivers
   7. Other State and Local Benefits
3. Veterans Benefits, Claims, and Appeals Under the Current Rules
   10:45 - 11:30, Bryan Adler
   1. Types of Veterans Benefits: VA Aid and Attendance, Disability, etc.
   2. Eligibility Update
   3. The Modernized Claims and Appeals System
   4. Forms and Procedures Update
   5. Discharge Issues
   6. Addressing Prior Transfers
4. Special Needs Trusts and ABLE Accounts
   11:30 - 12:15, Daniel J. Jurkovic
   1. SNTs vs. ABLE Accounts: Structure, Uses, Benefits, Eligibility, and More
   2. Types of SNTs
   3. Preserving Benefits Eligibility
   4. Qualified Expenses and Other SNT Trust Administration Issues
   5. Tax Considerations
   6. Key Provisions: Sample SNT Document Review
   7. Recent POMS Updates
5. Post-Eligibility and Estate Planning Issues
   1:15 - 2:15, Jane M. Fearn-Zimmer
   1. Coordinating Multiple Benefits
   2. Benefits Overpayment
   3. Loss and Restoration of Benefits
   4. Estate Recovery and Other Probate Issues Associated with Medicaid
   5. State and Local Benefits for the Aging and the Disabled
   6. Survivor Benefits
   7. Tax Implications of Benefits Planning
6. Social Security Disability Application, Appeals, Briefing, and Hearing Proces
   2:30 - 3:30, Alan Polonsky
   1. SSI vs. SSDI Benefits and Application Overview
   2. SSDI 5-Step Evaluation Process and Application: Forms and Procedures
   3. SSDI Claim Briefing and Hearings
   4. Leveraging Medical and Vocational Data
   5. Effect of SSDI on Medicaid Eligibility
   6. SSDI Appeals and Protecting Benefits
   7. Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) Fees
7. Legal Ethics of Representing the Elderly and the Disabled
   3:30 - 4:30, Daniel J. Jurkovic
   1. Conflicts of Interest
   2. Attorney Fees
   3. Capacity Determinations
   4. Client Confidentiality

Accreditation Details:

Bryan Adler is an attorney with Rothkoff Law Group and is a certified elder law attorney (CELA) through the National Elder Law Foundation. He dedicates his elder law practice to advising and counseling clients in the areas of elder law, life care planning, asset protection, veterans' benefits, estate planning, guardianships and long-term care advocacy for both Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents. Mr. Adler received his B.S. degree from Penn State University and his J.D. degree from Drexel University. He is licensed to practice law in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and is also a Veterans Administration accredited attorney. As a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Mr. Adler co-chairs the Practice Development and Success Committee. He is the co-chair of the Practice Development committee for the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Mr. Adler is also a member of the Pennsylvania Association of Elder Law Attorneys and the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association, and a member of the Crossroads Hospice of Ethics Board.

Charles C Bratton II is a founding member of Bratton Law LLC, and chair of the firm's trusts, estates, elder law, and life care planning division. He counsels clients with regard to estate planning and administration, elder law, life care planning, asset protection, Veterans' benefits, and disability. Mr. Bratton is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and Life Care Planning Law Firms Association, is an accredited attorney with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and is past trustee and chair of the Young Lawyers Committee of the Camden County Bar Association. He earned his B.S. degree, cum laude, from Southeastern Louisiana University; J.D. degree from Rutgers University; and LL.M degree from Western New England School of Law.

Matthew R Bravette is an associate attorney at Bratton Law, LLC and concentrates in the areas of estate planning, life care planning, elder law and estate administration. Mr. Bravette received his B.S. degree from Drexel University and his J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law. While studying for his degree, he served as a judicial law clerk for the Philadelphia Commerce Court Case Management Program, where he holds the distinction of being the first ever recipient of the Honorable Albert W. Sheppard Scholarship Fund. Mr. Bravette is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, and is licensed to practice law in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

 

Jane M Fearn-Zimmer is a shareholder with Flaster Greenberg, P.C., in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She dedicates her practice to serving clients in the areas of elder and disability law, special needs trusts, asset protection, tax and estate planning, and estate administration. Ms. Fearn-Zimmer is the editor of The Elder Law Report, Including Special Needs Planning. In New Jersey, she is also recognized as a leader in the area of using Medicaid compliant annuities. She filed three separate federal district court lawsuits against the state of New Jersey on behalf of clients who used Medicaid compliant annuities in order to allow clients obtain Medicaid eligibility to assist in covering their long term care costs. Each of the three cases involved the purchase of an immediate annuity pursuant to applicable Medicaid law in order to achieve Medicaid eligibility. In each case, the state of New Jersey denied Medicaid benefits. Ms. Fearn-Zimmer has presented on tax, Special Needs planning, Medicaid planning, guardianships, and estate planning topics. Representative publications include Planning with Medicaid Annuities, Estate and Financial Planning Council of Southern NJ, November/December 2014; Gay Marriage in Transition: Recent Developments in the Legal Rights of Same-Sex Couples, 183 N.J.L.J. 95 (January 9, 2006); and Special Needs Trusts Update, Estate and Financial Planning Council of Southern NJ, September/October 2010. She was a former federal judicial clerk to the Honorable John S. Unpingco, Chief Judge of the District Court of Guam, where she served on the Civil and Criminal Justice Reform Act Committees for the District of Guam. Ms. Fearn-Zimmer has been admitted to the New Jersey Bar since 1996, and previously practiced civil litigation in New Jersey. She is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, the New Jersey Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Burlington County Bar Association, the Gloucester County Bar Association, and is a former chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association Elder and Disability Law Section. Ms. Fearn-Zimmer earned her B.A. degree from Chestnut College; LL.M. degree in taxation, with distinction, from Temple University; and earned her J.D. degree from Rutgers School of Law.

Daniel J Jurkovic is a solo practitioner located in Rutherford, New Jersey, whose practice is concentrated in the areas of elder law, guardianship, disability planning and estate planning. He has been granted the title of certified elder law attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation. This certification has been approved by the New Jersey Supreme Court and accredited by the American Bar Association. Recently, Mr. Jurkovic represented the Guardianship Association of New Jersey, Inc. (GANJI) and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys-N.J. (NAELA-NJ) as amicus parties before the New Jersey Supreme Court in the matter of Thomas Saccone v. Board of Trustees, Police and Fireman's Retirement System, and previously served as lead attorney on the amicus curiae brief submitted to the New Jersey Supreme Court in the matter of In Re Keri. Mr. Jurkovic earned his B.S.B.A. degree from Thomas Edison State College; his M.S. degree in labor relations from Cornell University and Baruch College; and his J.D. degree, and a certificate in health law policy, from Pace University School of Law.

 

Alan Polonsky is a partner in the law firm of Polonsky & Polonsky. Since 1989, his practice has been focused on Social Security and supplemental security income, handling cases in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, through all phases, including appeals to Federal District Court. Prior to his current practice, he worked for the Social Security Administration for ten years as an attorney advisor, primarily writing decisions for administrative law judges. Mr. Polonsky has appeared on TV on Law Journal, when the topic is Social Security and is a frequent lecturer to other lawyers on Social Security disability matters for, among others, New Jersey ICLE, Child Support Conference, and the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR). He received his B.A. degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1972, his J.D. degree from Delaware Law School in 1975, and his LL.M. in taxation from Temple University in 1983. Mr. Polonsky is a member of the Camden County Bar Association; Board of Directors and trustee of NOSSCR; past president of NOSSCR; and a member of the New Jersey, United States District Court, Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court bars.