APRIL 10, 2006 VOLUME 13, NUMBER 41 As many states have become more aggressive about recovering the costs of Medicaid care from the estates of deceased beneficiaries, one issue has appeared to be insoluble. Federal law permits states to make a claim against property held in joint tenancy at the time of a Medicaid recipient’s…
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APRIL 3, 2006 VOLUME 13, NUMBER 40 Five years ago the Arizona Legislature adopted an interesting new law. Modeled on a similar law in Missouri, the “beneficiary deed” statute permitted property owners to designate who would receive their property on death—much like a “payable on death” bank account. Now the state legislature has revisited beneficiary…
APRIL 25, 2005 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 43 The Medicaid worker was helpful, seemed to understand the question and knew the answer. The applicant’s guardian/conservator asked the right question. Unfortunately, the worker’s answer was just plain wrong. When the guardian/conservator relied on that wrong information, he lost out—and lost the Medicaid recipient’s home after her death.…
APRIL 18, 2005 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 42 Samuel Paschall apparently posed some risk to himself and to the other residents of The Washington Home in Washington, D.C. From the day of his first admission to the nursing facility he had been closely monitored because he was difficult to handle, and becoming more so as time…
APRIL 11, 2005 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 41 When the legal system takes over decision-making and care of an incapacitated adult, there is a struggle between competing goals. It is important to provide adequate protection and supervision, but it is also important to maintain the ward’s personal autonomy and self-determination. It is often difficult to decide…
APRIL 4, 2005 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 40 By most reports Terri Schiavo was a shy and quiet woman, and she might well have been distressed if she had anticipated that the process of her dying would become such a public spectacle. Much has been written about her, her family, her wishes, her condition, and the…
MAY 31, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 48 In 1994 and again in 1997, Oregon voters approved the first law permitting physician-assisted suicide in the U.S. In each of the six years since the law was implemented, about 30 terminally ill Oregon residents have used the “Death With Dignity” Act to end their lives with the…
MAY 24, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 47 Revocable living trusts have become immensely popular for estate planning in the past few decades. Once used primarily for commercial endeavors (like railroads, steel manufacturing and the like) and management of the assets of only the wealthiest families, trusts have in recent years become commonplace. As a result,…
MAY 17, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 46 Two recent appellate court cases illustrate different aspects of the law’s response to abuse and exploitation of seniors. Taken together the two cases underscore that protection of vulnerable seniors can be a priority of the legal system. The first case tested California’s law on elder abuse, which permits…
MAY 10, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 45 Carmen DiCesare, age 82, may have been a little confused when he visited the local branch of Prudential Savings Bank in south Philadelphia that day in August, 2000. By the time he left the bank he had made major changes in his estate plan, and the bank’s branch…