The Law Offices of Peter Cook are located in downtown Millburn, NJ.  Elder law is an area of focus for the practice with a particular emphasis on obtaining and/or retaining public benefits (especially Medicaid) for the elderly and disabled. We also provide outstanding legal services in estate planning, wills, trusts, probate, gift, retirement planning,  as well as related matters affecting elders such as guardianships, landlord/tenant relations.

In the practice of elder law and estate planning, we often see people in a medical, financial and emotional crisis. It is common that a family member has a chronic or an extended illness or disability resulting from a stroke, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, or other illness resulting in a need for long term care, which jeopardizes the financial security that the family has worked all of their lives to obtain. It is our goal to lift that financial burden from the shoulders of our clients - often by helping them plan to either obtain and/or keep public benefits such as Medicaid planning.

For example, when someone needs to be admitted into a nursing home and they do not have long term care insurance or they have inadequate long-term care insurance, we often help them with Medicaid planning to shift the burden of the cost of care to prevent financial devastation and to preserve as much, if not all, of their resources - all pursuant to the laws, rules and regulations. Sometimes this requires the use of trusts (such as Miller Trusts, Supplemental and Special Needs Trusts, etc.), transfers of both income and resources, changing the nature of resources or just simply keeping resources in the exact same condition but simply increasing the amount of resources that otherwise could be protected for public benefits. Tax issues, such as gift taxes, capital gains taxes, estate taxes and income taxes and various deductions also should be considered when planning in addition to other estate planning issues.

At the present time in New Jersey, it is not unusual to protect $500,000, and sometimes much more, and obtain long-term care Medicaid in situations where one spouse needs to go into a nursing home and one spouse lives at home or in the community. We try to achieve the goal of the client - whether it be simply assets how to make assets last longer or preserving assets in its present condition and obtaining public benefits such as long-term care Medicaid, or simply planning in the event of disability or death by the use of wills, trusts, powers of attorneys and other legal documents.

Our clients are attracted to us because of the outstanding legal services provided, and stay with us because of the high level personal attention.   We  provide for free initial consultations, please call us at (973) 763-5668 or email us at peter_cook_esq@yahoo.com  to  set up a convenient time for your consultation.  Evening and weekend office consultations are also available.