In Farmer v. Farmer (decided March 15, 2024), the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a land owner, finding that his aunt could present her claim to a jury that a life estate was given to her. The ordinary rule is that contracts involving land must […]
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The federal Medicaid statute authorizes the use of individual self-settled special needs trusts for individuals under the age of 65. See 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A). It also authorizes any applicant, regardless of age, to establish a self-settled pooled special needs trust sub-account. 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C). An open question not addressed in (d)(4)(C) is whether […]
If someone is receiving Medicaid and was injured through the negligence of others, Medicaid asserts a third-party claim against any recovery, whether by settlement or verdict. This is sometimes known as a Medicaid lien. The form shown below is one currently used by Georgia Medicaid when investigating whether a third-party claim exists.
On April 22, 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a new final rule requiring minimum staffing levels in nursing homes. The new rule applies to all nursing homes that receive funds from Medicare or Medicaid. Nursing homes must provide at least 3.48 hours of care per resident per day. This consists of […]
In Creamer v. Manley, decided March 14, 2024, the Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment upholding the validity of a Will. In summary, Willifred Thompson executed a Will leaving substantially all of her estate to Mable Manley, her caregiver. Two second cousins, Barbara Creamer and Gordon Lowe, filed a caveat alleging that Thompson lacked testamentary […]
On February 21, 2024, the Georgia Court of Appeals decided the case of In Re Estate of Anne Smith Florance. In that case, Florance had executed a revocable trust during her life and a Will pouring the remainder of her estate into the trust. The trust was first established in 1997 and amended several times […]
The Georgia Court of Appeals decided the case of In re Bessie Mae Blake on February 20, 2024. Willis Blake was appointed as his mother’s conservator in 2000, but he was a poor record keeper. Although he was required to set up a separate account for Bessie Mae, keep records of expenses and file annual […]
Effective April 1, 2024, the statewide averaged nursing facility private pay rate used in determining the penalty period for institutionalized individuals (nursing facility and home and community-based waiver programs) who transfer assets for less than the fair market value will increase from $9,584.00 to $10,025.00.
Recently we received a document we haven’t seen before which informs Medicaid recipients that their special needs trust accounting was approved. Obviously, there is probably a different form telling some individuals that their accounting was not approved, but we haven’t seen that form yet. The new form is below:
