May 2016

Mass. High Court Rules Grandfather Qualifies as Interested Person in Granddaughter's Guardianship

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts rules that lower courts erred in denying a grandfather\’s request to intervene as an interested person seeking to limit his granddaughter\’s guardianship, finding that the grandfather qualifies as an interested person because he is interested in the welfare of an incapacitated person and not because of any personal interest that he may have in the proceedings.  Guardianship of B.V.G. (Mass., No. SJC-11925, May 23, 2016).

Case Challenging Indiana's Shift of Many to Waiver Program Capping Services May Proceed

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a lower court\’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the state, ruling that Indiana may have violated the Americans with Disabilities Act with a policy change that reassigned many developmentally disabled individuals to a capped waiver program, putting them at risk of institutionalization. Steimel v. Wernert (7th Cir., No. 15-2377, May 10, 2016).

Testamentary Trust Qualifies As SNT Despite Support Language

The Supreme Court of Connecticut rules that the state Department of Social Services improperly denied a Medicaid application after counting assets in a testamentary trust that should have been considered exempt because, the court holds, the trust was a discretionary supplemental needs trust, not a support trust. Pikula v. Department of Social Services (Conn., No. SC 19533, May 10, 2016).

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