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NJ WEIGHS IN ON MEDICAID PLANNING
BY A GUARDIAN Click here to save article in WinZip.exe format to your PC It’s been no secret in NY that planning by a guardian to achieve Medicaid eligibility for a ward has been considered permissible, perhaps even laudatory. NJ, confronting the same issue, had two lower courts place the burden on the guardian to establish that such a plan did not contravene the intention of the ward. Well the ward had severe dementia and could not speak to the issue of whether the ward would have done the planning (transferred assets to achieve Medicaid eligibility). The petitioners appealed to NJ’s highest court. The court opined that it was indeed permissible for a guardian to engage in such planning and it was up to the legislature to change the laws which allow a guardian (and people without dementia) to divest themselves of assets in order to achieve Medicaid eligibility. See Matter of Keri, at http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/supreme/a-70-02.pdf |
