Guardianships in 2024: The Basics and Beyond

Date: Jul 24, 2024 9:00 a.m. – 12:35 p.m.

Location: Online

Member Price: $159

Non-Member Price: $199

Event Code: I103024

Areas of Law: Elder & Disability Law

Earn up to 4.2 credits, including 2.2 in Ethics! (More Information)

Faculty

Keynote

Moderator

Hon. Margaret M. McVeigh, PJCh (Ret.)
Demarco & Demarco
is Of Counsel to DeMarco & DeMarco in North Haledon, New Jersey. She formerly served as Presiding Judge, Chancery Division, General Equity Part, Passaic County vicinage, and sat in Paterson, New Jersey, where her responsibilities included the General Equity Part, Probate and Foreclosure. She has also served in Special Civil Part and the Family and Civil Divisions.

Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge McVeigh had a diverse practice litigating in both state and federal courts. She has been Chair of the Conference of General Equity Judges and of the Special Committee to Study Guardianship Monitoring, and has served on the Judiciary Surrogates Liaison and Civil Practice Committees. Judge McVeigh has also served on the Supreme Court Committees on Alternate Dispute Resolution, Women in the Courts and Special Civil Part. A member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, she is a former Officer and Trustee of the Passaic County Bar Association.

Judge McVeigh is a founding member of the Robert Clifford American Inns of Court and has served on its Board of Directors. She was an Adjunct Professor at Montclair State University and is the recipient of ICLE’s Distinguished Service Award.

Judge McVeigh is a graduate of Mary Washington College and Seton Hall Law School.
(9/23)

Presenters

Hon. Mary K. Costello, P.J.Ch.
NJ Superior Court
Hon. James J. DeLuca, J.S.C. (Ret.)
Harwood Lloyd, LLC
is counsel at Harwood Lloyd LLC in Hackensack and Ridgewood, New Jersey, and New York City, and brings 45 years of legal experience to the firm’s Alternate Dispute Resolution and Mediation Group. He focuses in mediation and arbitration services, and also manages complex litigation, including serving as a Special Discovery Master and Special Fiscal Agent and/or Receiver. Appointed to the New Jersey Superior Court in 2015, he served in the Law and Chancery Divisions and sat in Hackensack, New Jersey, prior to his retirement.

Judge DeLuca is admitted to practice in New Jersey, New York and North Carolina. Prior to being appointed to the bench, he was a Partner in Okin, Hollander & DeLuca, LLP, where he represented clients in commercial litigation, bankruptcy, arbitrations and mediations. He is a frequent lecturer on chancery and probate matters.

Judge DeLuca is a graduate of Queen’s College (City University of New York) and Notre Dame Law School.
(9/23)
Hon. M. Susan Sheppard, P.J.Ch.
Superior Court of New Jersey, Atlantic/Cape May Counties
Shawna A. Brown, Esq.
Mandelbaum Barrett PC, Roseland
is Counsel to Mandelbaum Barrett P.C. in Roseland, New Jersey, in the firm’s Elder Law, Trusts & Estates and Special Needs Practice Groups. She focuses her practice in estate administration and litigation, including contested and uncontested probate, administration and accounting proceedings.

Ms. Brown is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York. Prior to joining the firm she was an associate at a New York City law firm for more than eight years, where she counseled the Public Administrator of New York County, a city agency which administers the estates of decedents, in connection with estate administration. She has lectured for ICLE and community organizations.

Ms. Brown received her B.A. from Rutgers College, Rutgers University, and her J.D. from New York Law School.
(9/23)
Brian J. Carlin
Surrogate of Burlington County, Mount Holly
Lori M. McNeely, Esq.
McNeely McGuigan & Esmi, LLC, Moorestown
is a Partner in McNeely McGuigan & Esmi, LLC in Moorestown, New Jersey, where she concentrates her practice in estate planning and administration, probate, guardianships, Will contests and related litigation, residential real estate and small business formation. Ms. McNeely frequently receives appointments from the Courts and private clients to serve as trustee, administrator of estates, guardian for incapacitated persons, and counsel for alleged incapacitated persons. She is also on the roster of certified foreclosure mediators with the Administrative Office of Courts in New Jersey and provided pro bono real estate representation to residents impacted by the Mount Holly Gardens litigation.

Admitted to practice in New Jersey and before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court, Ms. McNeely has been a member of the New Jersey State, Mercer County and Burlington County Bar Associations, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and the Guardianship
Association of New Jersey. She served as Co-Chair of the Real Property and Probate Committee of the Burlington County Bar Association for six years. She has been a lecturer for CLE seminars sponsored by the Mercer and Burlington County Bar associations and lectured at the Guardianship Association of New Jersey’s Annual Conference in 2011.

Ms. McNeely received her B.S. from Duke University and her J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law-Camden, where she won the 1995 Hunter Moot Court Competition and represented Rutgers in the National Moot Court Competition in Washington, D.C. She was also the recipient of the Excellence in Litigation, Women’s Law Caucus and Hunter Moot Court Awards.
(9/23)
Richard I. Miller, Esq., CELA
Mandelbaum Barrett, PC, Roseland
Certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation, is a Shareholder in Mandelbaum Barrett P.C. in the firm’s Roseland, New Jersey, office. Chair of the firm’s Elder Law Practice and Co-Chair of its Special Needs Practice, he concentrates his practice in elder law, guardianships, probate litigation, planning for individuals with special needs, estate planning and estate administration. Mr. Miller provides fiduciary services and serves as executor and administrator in complex estate matters, as guardian for disabled individuals and as Trustee for Supplemental Needs Trusts. He is also a court-approved mediator for probate litigation matters.

Admitted to practice in New Jersey, New York and Colorado, Mr. Miller is Chair of the Passaic County Bar Association Elder Law Section and a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Elder Law and Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Sections. He is a past President and Trustee of the Passaic County Bar Association, a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and the Academy of Special Needs Planners, and has served on the District XI Ethics Committee.

Mr. Miller is a frequent lecturer on elder law, government benefit planning and guardianships for professional, community and financial groups. He is the recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Chancery/Probate Practitioner of the Year award bestowed by the Passaic County Bar Association (PCBA) and the 2011 Professional Lawyer of the Year award from the PCBA and the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law.

Mr. Miller received his B.A., with honors, from Rutgers College and his J.D. from Rutgers School of Law-Newark.
(9/23)
Kristi Jasberg Robinson, Esq.
Chief, Civil Practice Liaison, Administrative Office of the Courts
serves as Chief, Civil Practice Liaison, Civil Practice Division of the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts in Trenton, New Jersey. Her responsibilities include overseeing the New Jersey Judiciary Guardianship Monitoring Program and serving as AOC staff to several statewide Judiciary conferences and committees devoted to probate, chancery and civil litigation issues. Prior to joining the AOC in August 2011, she worked as an attorney in private practice and in her most recent role as a staff attorney at Dechert LLP in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, managed large-scale electronic discovery review and production in mass torts and product liability matters.

Admitted to practice in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Ms. Robinson has been a member of the National and Mid-Atlantic Associations for Court Management. She has served as a panelist for continuing legal education courses on guardianship and other topics, and was a workgroup member and contributor to the National Association for Court Management’s 2013-2014 Adult Guardianship Guide.

Ms. Robinson received her undergraduate degree from Hofstra University and her J.D. from Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law, where she was a member of the Moot Court Board.
(9/23)

Guardianships in New Jersey have substantially increased in recent years. The number of guardianships will continue to grow as the elderly population in New Jersey increases in the coming decades and as more individuals with developmental disabilities reach adulthood. Learning about the guardianship process from the perspective of judges in the field and experienced members of the bar is useful in mastering the essentials of guardianship practice, including who qualifies as an incapacitated person, when and why guardianship may be necessary, ethical challenges for attorneys appointed to represent alleged incapacitated persons as counsel or as guardians ad litem, and more. This seminar will provide a brief overview of the basics of guardianships of the person and/or the estate whether filed under Title 30 or Title 3B. It will then dive deeper into emerging issues and the state of the guardianship process post pandemic.

After attending, you’ll be able to confidently handle an adult guardianship and the road bumps that are expected to pop up along the way!

Topics include:

  • Post Pandemic related notices/procedures/changes
  • Surrogate and Chambers functions
    - Emergent applications
    - What’s going on with filings and docketing
    - How they’re handling adjournments
    - Title search companies
    - What are good things we’re seeing and what are bad things?
    - Common problems and lawyer mistakes
  • Contested and uncontested guardianships
  • Will contests
  • Recent case law
  • Upcoming issues
  • And more!

CLE Credits
NJ CLE:NJ CLE information: This program has been approved by the Board on Continuing Legal Education of the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 4.2 hours of total CLE credit, including 2.2 in Ethics (Full Credits Available: NJ Ethics: 2.2, NJ General: 2.0).
NY CLE (t&nt):NY Ethics Non-Transitional: 2.0, NY Professional Practice Non-Transitional: 2.0
PA CLE:PA Ethics Credit: 1.5, PA Substantive Credit: 1.5
New: No PACLE fee is required for this program. To earn PA CLE credits, a valid PA Bar ID number must be entered into the CLE form provided after attending the program.

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Read our Scholarship & Financial Assistance Policy and submit an Application here: https://njsba.com/njicle/cle-programs/scholarship/

 

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