New Jersey Not Allowed to Analyze Promissory Notes as Trust-Like Devices

Some New Jersey residents lent money to relatives and received promissory notes in return. Then the residents applied for Medicaid and were denied.  The state claimed that the notes were trust-like instruments and available resources.

The district court sided with New Jersey and the residents appealed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit found that the district court used an improper analysis and that if the promissory notes are resources, the district court never should have reached the trust-like device provision in its analysis.

See Appeals Court Vacates Decision Allowing N.J. to Analyze Promissory Notes as Trust-Like Devices, ElderLawAnswers, Aug. 11, 2010; See also Sable v. Velez (U.S. Ct. App., 3rd Cir., No. 10-1148, July 28, 2010).