This is the next installment in our series on Delaware’s new Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act, which was signed into law on September 30, 2024 and goes into effect in one year on September 20, 2025. Delaware is the first State to fully enact the Uniform Act (and made some Delaware-specific additions), and other states have legislation pending. The new Act completely replaces our existing Act of the same name. The new Act has a new Optional Form that completely replaces our old form.

First Major Overhaul to Delaware Health Care Statutes in 30 Years

The first major overhaul to Delaware’s Health Care statutes was signed by the Governor on September 30, 2024, to go into effect in one year on September 30, 2025.

The new rule we first reported on in our May 2024 Blog became effective September 30, 2024, a blessing to Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”) recipients who are subject to what’s called the In-Kind Support and Maintenance (“ISM”) rules

A USA Today article published in the August 18, 2024 edition of the News Journal (linked at the end of this Blog) explained the perils of probate, which we often cover in our Newsletter and Blog. 

Since February 2022, when Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Proposed Regulations implementing changes to the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules for individual retirement accounts and employer plans under the SECURE Act and the SECURE 2.0 Act, attorneys and financial professionals have awaited Final Regulations.

Until recently, Adult Protective Services (APS) has been funded and administered wholly at the state or local level. As a result, there is wide variation in APS services and practices between, and even within, states.

In March 2024, the Social Security Administration issued a new rule that favors disabled individuals applying for or receiving Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”). Under the new rule, starting September 30, 2024, food will no longer be considered in-kind support and maintenance (“ISM”) in ISM calculations.

A fiduciary is someone who acts for another pursuant to legal authority to do so.

A fiduciary can act for a living individual. The most common sources of legal authority for a fiduciary to act for a living individual are: a power of attorney, a guardianship, and a trust.

A U.S. District Court in Alabama declared the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) unconstitutional in the battle between privacy rights and organized crime. In National Small Business Association v. Yellen (Case No. 5:22-cv-01448)

Assisted Living has been in the news for at least the past year, both locally and nationally. For our clients this is a prime issue.

Thanks to Professor Katherine Pearson of Dickinson Law School for bringing this case to our attention.

On May 1, 2023, an appellate court in Ohio found that the daughter's role as agent acting under a power of attorney prevented her from becoming personally liable for her mother's costs of care.  The daughter appears to have properly cooperated or assisted in the original Medicaid application. 

A recent article compared all 51 states and D.C. for reporting, investigating and acting upon abuse of the elderly. That article is found below. Several experts provide insight on Elder Abuse and reporting.

Where does Delaware stand? Forty-six out of the fifty-one. At the bottom? California, which recently made all its residents eligible for Medicaid without regard to the amount of resources one might have.

Ask anyone the first word that comes to mind when they hear the term “estate plan.” The answer is likely “Will.” But your estate plan is much more than your Will. Your assets dictate what your estate plan documents are or should be.

Prior gifts harm Medicaid applicants by delaying when Medicaid starts. The delay is directly linked to the total gift value over a five-year period. This delay significantly harms persons needing care now. We see this time and again. Below we explain the basic rules on how Medicaid penalizes gifts.

If you receive Social Security retirement benefits, one of the best ways to prevent overpayments is to check the earnings history Social Security has on record for you. You can do this before you retire.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is trying to reclaim billions of dollars from many of the nation’s poorest and most vulnerable — payments it sent them but now says they never should have received. During the 2022 fiscal year, the agency clawed back $4.7 billion of overpayments, while another $21.6 billion remained outstanding, according to a report by SSA’s inspector general. One consequence is a costly collection effort...

One of our core missions is to provide legal services to persons with disabilities and their families in estate and long-term care planning. A great many of our clients have special needs or have a loved one who does.

This article describes another step in our country’s laborious task of implementing the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, which, together with its predecessor SECURE Act of 2019, is making major changes regarding retirement accounts such as 401(k) plans, Individual Retirement Accounts, and governmental 457(b) plans.

I am thrilled to share that I have earned the designation of Certified Elder Law Attorney from the National Elder Law Foundation! This a major accomplishment requiring Herculean study over the course of six months, taking me away from my family, a grueling day-long exam in March that felt more painful (is that possible?) than the State of Delaware Bar Exam I took 23 years ago, waiting months to learn if I passed the exam, finding out I passed (hooray!), and then completing and submitting a daunting application in early July, which required me to show I completed at least 60 elder law matters across 12 substantive areas in the last three years, 45 hours of continuing legal education, and more than 5 peer references from esteemed elder law and other attorneys familiar with my work. The last week of July I received the word: I made it! I am now a Certified Elder Law Attorney!

A common mistake among Medicare recipients is to believe that Medicare is the only the health insurance they need. This belief is false and dangerous. For most expenses, Medicare only pays a portion. This creates “gaps” in medical coverage where the Medicare beneficiary must pay the other portion of their expenses. These gaps add up quickly, and can cripple the finances of a senior citizen who is struggling to make ends meet or, as is often the case, has the money to pay, but is saving that money in case other big expenses arise in the future, such as long-term care in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or the home. The senior and his or her family is left scratching their heads as to how the senior could be hit with such a big medical bill, for example, after a rehabilitation facility stay following hospitalization, when they thought the senior was fully covered by Medicare.