Tag: Disability Law

Is Your Emotional Support Dog a Bone of Contention?

On By Jane Fearn-Zimmer, Esq.In Emotional Support AnimalsLeave a comment

emotional support dog

Dogs can bring us companionship, a sense of purpose and enhanced health. Fortunately, courts (and landlords) are increasingly recognizing that an emotional support dog may be a reasonable accommodation of a disability under federal laws such as the Fair Housing Act. Castillo Condo Ass’n. v. U.S. Dep’t. of Hous. & Urban Dev., 821 F.3d 92, 96 (1st Cir. 2016); HUD No. 13-060 (April 30, 2013); McFadden v. Meeker Housing Auth. Civ. No. 16-cv-2304-WJM-GPG (D. Colo. February 15, 2019).

This law prohibits discrimination in the terms and conditions of housing rented to a disabled person where her disability substantially limits one or more major life activities and the landlord denies a request for a reasonable accommodation necessary to allow the disabled individual an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the dwelling. 42 U.S.C. 3604(f)(3)(B).

Major life activities are defined as basic functions such as caring for one’s self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning and working and presumably, studying in an academic environment.  Discrimination in the terms and conditions rented housing on the basis of a handicap is prohibited when there is a refusal to make a reasonable accommodation in the rules, policies or practices or serves when the accommodations may be necessary to allow the person an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the dwelling. For instance, in the case of a college student diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression, if the disability interferes with the student’s activities, for example, by interfering with sleeping patterns, which interferes with the student’s abilities to study effectively, attend early morning classes, and to socialize, and the soothing presences of an emotional support animal will greatly alleviate the anxiety, stress and depression, making it possible for the student to regularly sleep through the night, attend classes, and socialize with her peers, the presence of an emotional support animal may be a reasonable accommodation for this student.

An emotional support dog may be a reasonable accommodation for an individual whose disability. However, the disabled individual should be careful to comply with the landlord’s legitimate safety and hygiene related policies, including walking the dog in designated areas and compliance with pooper scooper requirements. Woodside Village v. Hertzmar, 8 Conn. Super. Ct. 801 (Conn Super Ct 1993).  For more information on reasonable accommodations under federal law, contact an experienced dog-loving, disability lawyer.

Questions? Let Jane know.

Jane Fearn-Zimmer is an Elder and Disability Law, Taxation, and Trusts and Estates attorney. She dedicates her practice to serving clients in the areas of elder and disability law, special needs planning, asset protection, tax and estate planning and estate administration. She also serves as Chair of the Elder & Disability Law section of the NJSBA.

Do I Need A Physician Orders for Life- Sustaining Treatment?

On By Jane Fearn-Zimmer, Esq.In Elder Law, Hospice Care, Long-term careLeave a comment

POLST.jpgA POLST (physician’s orders for life sustaining treatment) is a portable medical order, signed by a doctor, which contains the treatment wishes of an individual who is either seriously ill, or medically frail. The physician’s orders help the individual exert some degree of control over their end of life care.

Some individuals nearing the end of their life do not want to receive emergency medical treatment.  If the individual is residing in a long-term care facility, the current standard of care during an emergency is that the facility must call 9-1-1 in an emergency and the emergency medical personnel must to take every reasonable means to safe a life.  In an emergency, the decisions makers under a health care power of attorney may not be able to be reached immediately, and emergency medical personnel will not have time to read a legal document.  If your loved one nearing the end of life wishes not to receive emergency medical services (such as intubation, cardiopulmonary rescuscitation, antibiotics, and other treatments), a POLST should be prepared and provided to the long-term care facility.

Questions? Let Jane know.

Jane Fearn-Zimmer is an Elder and Disability Law, Taxation, and Trusts and Estates attorney. She dedicates her practice to serving clients in the areas of elder and disability law, special needs planning, asset protection, tax and estate planning and estate administration. She also serves as Chair of the Elder & Disability Law section of the NJSBA.

Is My Memory Loss Normal Aging or Something More?

On By Jane Fearn-Zimmer, Esq.In Disability Law, Elder LawLeave a comment

Sad senior woman after quarrel

Garden variety memory lapses, like misplacing car keys, are normal, but where do you draw the line? A good rule of thumb is that if you notice that your loved one has repeated episodes of memory loss, and/or troubling personality changes or difficulty performing everyday tasks, like driving or financial management, it could be time for a crisis elder care plan. Here are some red flags to watch for:

  • Asking the same questions over and over again;
  • Repeating the same stories;
  • Difficulty paying bills, balancing the check book or reading a bank or credit card statement;
  • Difficulty adding and subtracting;
  • Late notices and missed payments, unopened mail accumulating;
  • Paying the same bill multiple times in the same month;
  • Difficulty performing everyday tasks (getting lost and being unable to find your way home, forgetting how to operate a home appliance);
  • Decline in personal hygiene (not bathing or brushing teeth, wearing the same clothing day after day);
  • Inappropriate attire, behavior, statements and/or language;
  • Confusion or word-finding difficulty (ex. asking where the “bread-thingy” is instead of where the toaster is;
  • Inability to retain new information; and/or
  • Irritability or foul language, behavior consistent with depression, apathy, anxiety, agitation, delusions and hallucinations, wandering, aggression

If you notice one or more of these signs, it may be a good idea to contact an elder lawyer without delay. An elder lawyer can help you find the best care and a way to pay for that care with public benefits, while protecting your life savings and the family home.

Questions? Let Jane know.

Jane Fearn-Zimmer is an Elder and Disability Law, Taxation, and Trusts and Estates attorney. She dedicates her practice to serving clients in the areas of elder and disability law, special needs planning, asset protection, tax and estate planning and estate administration. She also serves as Chair of the Elder & Disability Law section of the NJSBA.

Support for New Jersey’s Unpaid Caregivers

On By Jane Fearn-Zimmer, Esq.In Caregivers Resources, Disability Law, Elder LawLeave a comment

Support for New Jersey’s Unpaid Caregivers

Caregiving, done well, can be the ultimate act of service and potentially a game-changer, enabling an elderly or functionally disabled individual to remain at home surrounded by their family, friends and happy memories.

However noble and important, caregiving often imposes a heavy financial, physical and emotional toll on unpaid caregivers, who statistically face a higher incidence of missed time from work, loss of employment, and of developing adverse emotional conditions such as anxiety, depression, and burn out, adverse health conditions and even physical injury.

The value of self-care on the part of the caregiver is essential. At a minimum, caregivers should take regular breaks, get physical exercise, maintain good nutrition and get plenty of rest, which is often easier said than done. With the number of elderly and disabled individuals reliant on care from unpaid caregivers projected to double by 2020, unpaid caregivers will face unprecedented challenges.

The state of New Jersey has taken up the challenge of supporting caregivers with recently enacted Public Law 2018, c166. Passed by the New Jersey legislature and signed by Acting Governor Sheila Oliver on December 28, 2018, the new law establishes the New Jersey Caregiver Task Force. The purpose of the task force is to evaluate existing supports for New Jersey caregivers and to develop recommendations for the improvement and expansion of caregiver support services within our state. The task force will take testimony from caregivers regarding the care duties performed, the sufficiency of caregiver training programs, the costs which caregivers face and their own personal caregiving experiences.  The task force will prepare a report with recommendations for new laws and regulatory or program changes to improve, expand and supplement existing caregiver support programs and systems within the state.

New Jersey’s new focus on caregivers is not unprecedented. In 2017, the state of Hawaii passed the Kapuna Care Act, which established the Kapuna Caregivers Assistance program to provide family caregivers who work with resources to help pay for care services for elderly individuals over age sixty residing in the community and requiring assistance with at least two activities of daily living or having substantial cognitive impairment.  Under the Hawaiian model, cash payments are available to help working caregivers defray some care-related costs.

At the federal level, the RAISE Family Caregivers Act was signed into law on January 8, 2018, and directs the Department of Health and Human Services to develop, maintain and update a National Family Caregiving Strategy and to convene a Family Caregiving Advisory Council. The Act defines family caregivers as adult family members or other individual having a “… significant relationship with” and providing “a broad range of assistance to an individual with a chronic or other health condition, disability or functional limitation.” The bill is designed to specify recommended actions which can be undertaken by federal, state, and local governments, communities, health care providers, and long term services and supports to assist family caregivers.

Questions? Let Jane know.

Jane Fearn-Zimmer is an Elder and Disability Law, Taxation, and Trusts and Estates attorney. She dedicates her practice to serving clients in the areas of elder and disability law, special needs planning, asset protection, tax and estate planning and estate administration. She also serves as Chair of the Elder & Disability Law section of the NJSBA.

Financial Support for an Adult Disabled Child

On By Jane Fearn-Zimmer, Esq.In Disability Law, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Financial Support for an Adult Disabled ChildEven with child support payments from the non-custodial parent, raising a special needs child on a single parent’s income can be very challenging. N.J.S.A. 2A:17-56.67, a relatively new New Jersey emancipation law, requires termination of child support at age 19 unless otherwise provided in a court order or a judgment. As a practical matter, this means that the parents of adult disabled children who have prior court orders mandating continued child support after age nineteen, must either submit a written request for the continuation of the child support obligation prior to the nineteenth birthday of the child in question, or, if the child’s nineteenth birthday has already passed, the custodial parent must petition the Probate Court, rather than the Family Court, for continued financial support of the adult disabled child, even though the support obligation is already provided for in the court order.

The new law, enacted in 2015, further provides that the obligation to pay child support must terminate by operation of law when the child (who may be a special needs child) reaches the age of twenty-three. The custodial parent of an adult special needs child then bears the burden of seeking a court order for financial maintenance or reimbursement, as authorized by law.

The custodial parent is frequently the economically disadvantaged parent and the new law and the proposed new court rule will likely disproportionately impact these families. Among other things, the custodial parent must learn to navigate an entirely different set of legal rules and will no longer have the enforcement mechanism of the Probation Department.

Recently, I worked together with other elder and family law attorneys to advocate for the disability community on these issues. The Elder and Disability Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association presented this letter to the New Jersey State Bar Association, with the goal of making the process of obtaining continued financial support for an adult disabled child after the age of 23 as easy and cost-effective a process as possible.

Questions? Let Jane know.

Jane Fearn-Zimmer is an Elder and Disability Law, Taxation, and Trusts and Estates attorney. She dedicates her practice to serving clients in the areas of elder and disability law, special needs planning, asset protection, tax and estate planning and estate administration. She also serves as Chair of the Elder & Disability Law section of the NJSBA.