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Guardianships – New Background Screening Procedure for Certain Guardianship Petitions
The New Jersey Judiciary has recently issued a directive that for all petitions for guardianship of incapacitated persons filed on or after May 15, 2021, a new background screening policy is in place. Specifically, for certain proposed guardians, the Court will now require that they be subject to a background check that includes: a check …
Letter of Intent – A Must Have for Any Special Needs Family
If you are the primary caregiver of a person with special needs and passed away tomorrow, is there someone who could pick up where you left off in caring for that person? A letter of intent is a document used to communicate the instructions, preferences and general need-to-know information about your dependent with special needs. …
What is a Special Needs Trust and How Can it Help My Family?
A Special Needs Trust (sometimes called a Supplemental Needs Trust) or “SNT” is a specific type of trust, created by federal law, that allows an individual with special needs, or someone on behalf of that individual with special needs (commonly parents or grandparents), to hold assets in trust for that person without effecting his or …
How QTIP Trusts Help Blended Families Pass on Assets after Death
Written by: Joanna Adu, Esq. For individuals who are married but have children from a prior relationship a QTIP Trust should be a point of consideration in your estate planning process. A QTIP Trust, or Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust, is an irrevocable trust that allows you to use your assets to provide for your …
Disputes Over Treatment and Therapies for Special Needs Children
For co-parents of a child with special needs, it is not uncommon to disagree about decisions related to particular treatments and therapies for their child. There are also times when parents are unable to agree about the nature of a child’s disability and its effect, or lack thereof, on the child’s daily life. Co-parents who …
Why Using the Our Family Wizard Calendar Can Help Co-Parent Better
Raising children with someone you are no longer in a relationship with will require the coordination of multiple schedules, including both parents and the child(ren). Each parent’s schedule likely includes job-related responsibilities, vacations, birthdays, family gatherings, extracurricular activities, etc., and it is expected that each parent will want to include the child(ren) in many, if …
Can I Continue to get Child Support if Our Special Needs Child has Reached Adulthood?
If you are co-parenting a child with special needs, you may be wondering what will happen when your child becomes an adult. If you continue to care for your special needs child through adulthood, does the other parent still have to contribute financially? In short, it depends. In February 2017 a new child support law …
Addressing a Child’s Special Needs in Child Support Proceedings
In a report issued this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the rate of children diagnosed with autism has increased nationally from 1 in 68 in 2016 to 1 in 59. See New Jersey Autism Prevalence Rate Rises to 1 in 34, Autism NJ, https://www.autismnj.org/prevalence-rates. Additionally, New Jersey continues to …
Parallel Parenting: Parenting Arrangements for High Conflict Situations
What can you do when you and your ex are unable to be in same room together, but you share children? Sometimes, despite our best efforts, interaction with an ex is the equivalent of oil and water: the two simply do not mix. However, finding yourself in this situation does not mean that both parents …
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