New Jersey Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog : New Jersey Estate Planning Lawyer & Attorney : Deirdre Wheatley-Liss : Fein Such Kahn & Shepard Law Firm : Elder Law, Tax Planning

I am delighted to have been asked to serve on the Montclair State University Planned Giving Advisory Council. Through some of my sons activities I have had the opportunity to spend numerous hours on the beautiful campus of this hidden gem of New Jersey.  Although not an MSU Alum, by volunteering for this position I hope to support the Planned Giving Department in educating their alumni base about the value of donations to the university, as well as how to leverage that value by creating tax savings for the donors and their families.

You can find out more here.

 

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A truly valuable article from the AP today "Americans are treated, and overtreated, to death".  The article stares down a hard question - When do we stop focusing on a cure and start caring about how we die?

The statistics are disturbing:

Americans increasingly are treated to death, spending more time in hospitals in their final days, trying last-ditch treatments that often buy only weeks of time, and racking up bills that have made medical care a leading cause of bankruptcies.

More than 80 percent of people who die in the United States have a long, progressive illness such as cancer, heart failure or Alzheimer's disease.

More than 80 percent of such patients say they want to avoid hospitalization and intensive care when they are dying, according to the Dartmouth Atlas Project, which tracks health care trends.

Yet the numbers show that's not what is happening:

_The average time spent in hospice and palliative care, which stresses comfort and quality of life once an illness is incurable, is falling because people are starting it too late. In 2008, one-third of people who received hospice care had it for a week or less, says the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

_Hospitalizations during the last six months of life are rising: from 1,302 per 1,000 Medicare recipients in 1996 to 1,441 in 2005, Dartmouth reports. Treating chronic illness in the last two years of life gobbles up nearly one-third of all Medicare dollars.

Do we want to tell people they can't be treated for their disease because .... (fill in the reason - money, age, citizenship, whatever?).  I don't think so.  However, what is missing from the discussion about terminal disease is how do you care for it as opposed to how do you cure it, because there may not be a cure.  Death is part of life - harsh and unwanted and soul-destroying as it may be, it is and always will be the end.

The article suggest that an answer to all of these disturbing questions may start in a conversation - a real back and forth dialog with all parties being fully informed - of what it means to battle a disease or care for it.  

So where do you go to have that dialog? In a conversation I had with David J. Shulkin, MD, Chief Operating Officer and President-elect, Morristown Memorial Hospital a few weeks ago he suggest patient message boards.  He believes that patients need to be active participants in their own health care, and part of that is leveraging the experience of other dealing with the disease is addressing the "cure" v. "care" question.  

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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 April is Donate Life Month and New Jersey is asking residents to consider becoming organ donors.  

National “Donate Life Month” is the perfect time to consider the difference you can make in the lives of others through organ donation,” said Health and Senior Services Commissioner Alaigh. “I urge all residents to register as organ donors. Just one person can make a difference in as many as 50 lives. The gift of life is truly the greatest gift of all.”

Nationally, there are more than 106,000 people—including nearly 4,600 New Jersey residents—on a waiting list to receive a life-saving organ transplants, according to the New Jersey Sharing Network.

Becoming an organ donor in New Jersey is a simple as a click of a mouse - you can find out more information at the online at the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission Organ Donor page, or simply download the organ donor form.

You can get more information on Organ Donation at www.organdonor.gov.

 

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Randolph NJ Schools are at a cross roads. Gov. Christie has cut an additional $3.7 million in funding for the 2010-2011 school year. This is on top of a shortfall of $2.27 from our operating budget from this year.

The Board of Education has outlined our bleak options in a press release.

While none of the options are desirable, we all need to be informed residents to determine how our town will move forward. We need to make decisions about today and our future.

Here is how our "options" break down:

1 - The residents fund the shortfall - A one time additioanal special tax increase of approximately $113 per average household in addition to the increase of $253 per household already suggested to deal with the $2.27mil shortfall (average assessed value is around $338k I think)  - or a total of $366 per average house instead of $253 per average house OR

2 - Slashing the education our schools provide through either:

a - Cutting 57 teachers (in addition to the 22 already slated to be eliminated to make up the $2.7 shortfall already incorporated into the 2010-2011 budget) - meaning a total teaching staff reduction of 79 teachers  OR

b - Cutting ALL of the following:

• All sports, clubs and extra-curricular activities in all schools (elementary through high) AND
• Busing for families who live within 2 miles or the school (meaning kids are walking to school in Millbrook with no sidewalks) AND
• All kindergarten classes AND
• All AP classes at the high school AND
• All elective courses at the middle and high schools beyond the core state curriculum

An additional option is offsetting some of the cuts costs by a wage freeze for all education system staff.  Whatever your thoughts on that, the reality is that our school budget vote is next month and the teacher contract won't be done by then, so it is irrelevant to the immediate issue.  I put this in the category of good news if it happened, but not something to be counted on now.  Right now, we have some hard choices.

Nobody wants tax increases - but I put forth to you that if we residents don't come together to increase the funding to maintain our schools by agreeing to a one-time tax levy, our community will be lost as residents flee for better schools and nobody will buy our houses for a school district with no kindergarten, no AP, no busing and no sports.

We can all agree the education system is broken, but the answer can't be to punish our children who only get one shot at education in life - without the solid quality foundation we have been able to provide, our children's potential will be stunted.

Would I suggest different allocations in cuts if it were my decision? Absolutely - I see areas of waste and misallocation of resources.  Am I wiling to punish all of our children as a result? No.

I am a member of this community and know that if we can work together to maintain and grow, then all of us will benefit.  I would prefer a tax increase that is incremental spread out of over a year to having to pay for private school, private transportation and suffering more reductions in the value of my house.

We vote April 20th from 2-9 at the local firehouses.

 

Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Randolph NJ, where I live and our son goes to school, is a typical suburban neighborhood in Morris County, NJ - the 5th wealthiest county in the country according to Wikipedia.  We moved there in large part because of the supposed quality of the public school education.  

Its school budget time of year again, and the news in New Jersey is not good.  We are facing a $9,000,000,000 (that $9 billion) deficit in the state, and a minimum $2,000,000 deficit in the Randolph School budget (out of a total budget of about $76 million).  All the news I have been hearing is how we need to do with less this year - but I was thinking that we have good, strong, solid school system, we just need some belt tightening.

Well, imagine my surprise to read a Daily Record article that we have a FAILING school system. That's right, Randolph High, Randolph Middle and one of our Elementary schools "received an "early warning" for a one-year lapse in reaching testing requirements."  Now, I am not here to debate No Child Left Behind and the testing it mandates (I am not a supporter).  However, it is the law of the land, and effects how our public schools are funded and operated.    

One of the more disturbing things about this is that I had to learn of my child's failing school district from the newspaper - nothing was sent to parents or township residents, and it is not on the school district news page.  

I am not an educator - I don't know what the issues are from their perspective.  I am not being critical of the test scores, they are what they are, and are good in the sense that they highlight  what are clearly issues in the Randolph NJ education system.  However, I am a parent and a taxpayer, and feel that it is reasonable to expect that a school district of Randolph's supposed quality and significant funding not only meet minimum standards, but leave them in the dust in terms of the quality of education being offered to our children.

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Happy Holidays to you all!  

In this time of family, friends and thanks for good fortune, I like to recall a very famous letter written by 8 year old Virginia in 1897 to the to the New York Sun asking "Is There a Santa Claus?" for her father had told her that if it was printed in the New York Sun it must be true.

The editor,  Francis Pharcellus Church, created a response that 100 years later still embraces the magic of children, joy, and hope for the future.  My favorite part:

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

I wish you the joy of seeing all the Santa Clauses who abound in your life this holiday season.

- Deirdre

 

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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I found a great website to track exactly how the stimulus dollars are being spent, down to the county level. 

The Stimulus Tracker at msnbc.com shows the allocation of hundreds of billions of stimulus dollars on contracts, grants and loans to restore infrastructure. These are the dollars intended to jump-start the economy, and you can see exactly how they are being spent in the nation, your state, or your county.  It shows not only dollars, but new jobs created.

For example, New York, Florida, Texas and California are each getting more than $5 billion of stimulus dollars for infrastructure restoration.  I am sure it is a total coincidence that that these states have the highest amount of electoral college votes (not).

New Jersey is getting $1.8 billion of total contracts.  Essex, Camden and Bergen counties will each receive more than $100 million of those dollars.  Here in Morris County, that translates to $68.9 million dollars of total contracts, including $3.1 million to rehabilitate I-287 Nb over Rt 46 (which really needs it).  You can even drill down to the specifics of each project (like here for instance).

A more comprehensive site is Recovery.gov - Track the Money.  However, it was honestly too detailed for me and my stomach started to churn at all the blue dots of "grant money" being distributed.  I seriously couldn't even make out the map anymore.

However, you can use recovery.gov to report fraud, waste and abuse.

We all wonder where the money is going - well, here is your chance to know!

Post Script:

Another useful sight was brought to my attention: Stimulus: How Fast We're Spending Nearly $800 Billion.  

The success of the federal stimulus program may hinge on the speed with which the government is able to distribute the billions authorized by Congress. Unlike some other estimates of the cost of the stimulus, which are based on spending projections, we took our numbers from the actual budget authority issued by Congress — $792 billion and change. We'll be tracking the progress of stimulus payments made by federal agencies weekly.

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As winter approaches (which last weeks unexpected snow reminded us is close at hand) a point of irritation bubbles to the top again - trying to get somewhere and dodging the ice, snow and debris from the car in front of you.  You know the car I am talking about - it snowed 3 days ago, and the car in front of you is encased in a 4 inch shiny snow crust with a square cut into the windshield and a rectangle in the driver side window for viewing.  As you are driving behind it you can only watch as sheet after sheet of ice comes sliding off, into your window, and making you almost get into an accident because you can't see.

Well, good news is on they way.  According to the Daily Record "Legislation that would toughen New Jersey's notoriously weak snow-removal law passed the Senate and Assembly in June. Gov. Jon S. Corzine is expected to sign it".

The current law is ridiculous - "Under the 1997 state law, a driver can get a ticket for not clearing a vehicle — but only if the snow dislodges and causes an injury or property damage, and only in the unlikely event an officer is nearby or the victim has the wherewithal to jot down a license plate number." (emphasis added).

While the new proposed law sounds better - it "would create an "affirmative duty" for snow removal with fines of up to $75"  - there will be many exemptions.  These appear to be aimed at:

1. not being responsible for snow accumulation while it is still snowing (reasonable, so long as you cleared your car before your started your drive - not just clear a circle and go),
2. not more than 1 ticket in a day (ridiculous - clean off your car, and if one ticket doesn't motivate you, another one might), and 
3. exempting commercial trucks that are enroute to a place with snow removal equipment (reasonable in the sense that a trucker can't really clean whole rig, but those trucks are a hazard after the storm has passed).  

In typical New Jersey fashion, a fund is supposed to be created with some of the ticket revenue to educate people about the law. Given the state of our State's finance, I think that adding the general revenues would be a better choice.

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 I have always been a huge proponent of public libraries - after all, what could be better than free books?  Over the weekend a New York Times article caught my eye "In New Jersey, Libraries Are Lifelines for Needy".  Apparently, there is better stuff at your local library than free books - there is career research and word processing for those in transition, and information on help available to those in need (mortgage assistance, food stamps, subsidized child care).  

What impressed me was not that our libraries have these resources (as a regular patron I can attest that local libraries are a fountain of information), but that New Jersey's public librarians have recognized that many patrons seeking this information might too uncomfortable to ask for it (especially in their hometown).  So the state librarians came together and created gethelp.njlibraries.org.

The site "provides links to state agencies and nonprofits, and information on jobs, food assistance, military benefits, utility assistance and even free tax preparation for people with low incomes, disabilities or difficulty speaking English."  Among other categories there are compilations of services under the heading of New Jersey Financial Tools, New Jersey Work Tools, and New Jersey Parental Tools.  The is also a link for information for seniors under  Tools For Seniors.

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Are Charities going to be Victims of Cash for Clunkers asks Kay Bell of Don't Mess With Taxes.

The Cash for Clunkers program (officially CARS for  Car Allowance Rebate System ) has been hugely popular. Old gas guzzlers are being traded in for new cars that have a $4500 rebate.  An additional $2 billion was added to the program last week.

Quick Aside - $2 billion is the same as $2,000,000,000.00 - ALWAYS write out the zeros when talking about how the government is spending YOUR dollars - looks quite a bit larger now, doesn't it?  At $4500 a car, that is 44,444 additional new cars being purchased.

The program requires that the "Clunkers" are junked by having liquid silicate poured into the engine, so that it is irreparably destroyed.  These cars will then be sold for scrap (and I won't go into the pros and cons of the environmental effects of that).

The problem?  Many charities rely on donations of old cars as an ongoing revenue source.  For example, Bell says:

Animal Services of Thurston County, Wash., depends on up to $20,000 in donations each year from Northwest Charity Donation Service. The service, in turn, relies on donated cars.

But since the Cash for Clunkers program began this summer, the nonprofit's source of funding is drying up, reports King 5 News in Seattle.

These are the same charities that have already lost scores of other funding sources as a result of individuals reducing contribution due to the stock market drop, corporations redlining excesses in the budgets due to the recession, and foundations staggering under market and Madoff type unanticipated losses.  So, score 1 for the car industry, and another negative for the charities that are using private dollars to address some of the staggering needs of the less fortunate.

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Category: Miscellaneous Musings

A totally non-serious estate planning tale, but good for a chuckle....

Estate Planning

Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business. When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune.

One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away.

"I may look like just an ordinary man," he said to her, "but in just a few years, my father will die, and I'll inherit 20 million dollars."

Impressed, the woman obtained his business card. Three days later, she became his stepmother.

Women are so much better at estate planning than men.

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Category: Elder Law

A recent New York Times article "For the Elderly, Being Heard About Life's End" describes the benefits of of ""slow medicine," an approach that encourages less aggressive -- and less costly -- care at the end of life."

There is an institutionalized bias to give any and all medical care. However, when a person is in their late 80's or 90's this aggressive care may hinder their quality of life and control over the quality of that life.

Aggressive medical care is sometime an exercise is substituted decision making - I can, so therefore I will. What "slow medicine" seems to promote is the question of - you can, but should you?

The article advised that "slow medicine" is "Grounded in research at the Dartmouth Medical School, slow medicine encourages physicians to put on the brakes when considering care that may have high risks and limited rewards for the elderly, and it educates patients and families how to push back against emergency room trips and hospitalizations designed for those with treatable illnesses, not the inevitable erosion of advanced age."

And the irony to this. As a class of population, the treatments are the most expensive, although the results may be limited. "The costliest patients -- the elderly with chronic illnesses -- are the only group with universal health coverage under Medicare, leading to huge federal expenditures that experts agree are unsustainable as boomers age. "

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Category: Elder Law, Miscellaneous Musings

We all complain about other drivers, particularly here in New Jersey where we probably have the most awful traffic, road conditions and convoluted traffic patterns (we can't just turn left - we have a lovely invention called jug-handles instead) in the country.

Elderly drivers tend to get much of the ire - for right or for wrong. In Japan, they are trying to entice "elderly" drivers to turn in their licences ("elderly" is in quotes as they define it as 65 - odd for the country with the one of the longest life expectancies). Yahoo News reports:

Tokyo businesses are to start offering benefits to elderly people who give up their drivers' licences, backing a police effort to cut back on the ballooning number of traffic accidents caused by drivers over 65.

Among more than 30 special offers, one small bank will give higher interest rates, while Mitsukoshi department store chain plans to provide free delivery from its Tokyo stores and a hotel will offer a 10 percent discount on meals in a program starting next month, Tokyo police said on their Web site.

"Have the courage to give up your licence," the police say on the site. "If you have lost confidence in your driving ... if your family says they are worried about you driving ... please think about handing in your licence."

What about some sort of accelerated re-licensing system instead after a certain age? And where does 65 come from (John McCain is 72 after all, and he claims to be spry enough).

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Category: Miscellaneous Musings

The PA Elder, Estate & Fiduciary Law Blog tipped me off that "The American Bar Association now lists, on its home page, a link to "more than 1,000 legal blogs". This is a must bookmark site.

The blogs or blawg are listed by category according to legal practice area. Your and Yours Blawg is listed in Elder Law (13), Tax Law (20) Trusts & Estates (36), Business Law (58) and New Jersey (10) (the numbers in parenthesis are the total listing of blawgs to date in that category).

A neat feature is that if you click on any blawg listing, you can
* see all the related categories of that blawg, which will let you drill down to related blawgs;
* get the RSS feed
* see all the recent blog postings headlines

For example, click here for ABA Blog description of You and Yours Blawg.

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