Governor Chris Christie took action on legislation from the 216th Legislative Session.  This included legislation for both elder law and estate law issues.  We have compiled some of the notable items from the 216th Legislative Session.  Legislation that may affect you includes:

• S-2110/A-3343 (Oroho/Space, Vainieri Huttle, Schaer, Phoebus, Pinkin) – This legislation requires nursing homes to offer a form designating beneficiary of personal needs allowance accounts from incoming and current residents. In other words, they are encouraging you to designate a beneficiary should there be remaining money in your PNA account (personal needs allowance account) upon your passing.
• SCS for S-2251/A-3708 (Oroho, Barnes/Diegnan, Webber, Johnson, Space, Phoebus) – This increases the monetary amounts for transfer of estate assets without administration and for exemption from debts of the deceased. This means that assets from an estate without a will valued up to $50,000 dollars can be transferred to a surviving spouse or partner without going through the process of administration.  Under the current law the maximum amount from an estate is $20,000 to process without administration.
• S-2284wGR/A-3549 (Pou, Weinberg/Schaer, Vainieri Huttle, Webber, Singleton, Jimenez, Johnson, Bramnick) – This requires Medicaid managed care organizations to meet certain conditions prior to reducing reimbursement rates for personal care assistant services and home-based supportive care services.
• S-2960/A-4331 (Codey, Rice/Garcia, Vainieri Huttle, Danielsen, DeAngelo, Holley, Benson, Mukherji) – This legislation establishes requirements for training programs for homemakers and home health aides in care of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.
• A-2915/S-2035 (Lagana, McKeon, Ciattarelli/Bateman, Barnes) – “Uniform Trust Code”. This legislation has already been passed in many other states, but not in NJ.  If passed it will affect trust attorneys and will offer a uniform approach to trust law in the state.

Keeping up with all of the constant legislation changes in the elder law and estate law world can sometimes get confusing.  Luckily, the Rothamel Bratton attorneys are on top of all of the latest information that may affect you and your family. For more information on these changes and other important changes on the estate planning and elder law front, call Rothamel Bratton’s experienced attorneys at 856-857-6000 today.