A LEGAL GUIDE ON LIVING WILLS

The information below describes your legal rights concerning health care decisions and living wills. It explains your legal right to make decisions about your own health care under New Jersey law, and it tells you how to plan ahead for your health care if you become unable to decide for yourself because of an illness or accident.

1. Why should I consider writing a living will?

A serious injury, illness or a mental incapacity may make it impossible for you to make any health care decisions for yourself. In these real life situations, those responsible for your care will be forced to make these decisions for you. A living will is simply a legal document that which provides information for your treatment preferences to those caring for you, helping to insure that your wishes are respected even when you can’t make decisions yourself. A clearly written living will help prevent disagreements among those close to you. Moreover, a living will can reduce some of the burdens of decision making which are often experienced by family members, friends and health care providers.

2. What happens if I’m unable to decide about my health care?

If you should become unable to make treatment decisions because of an illness or an accident, then those caring for you will need to know about your values and wishes in making decisions on your behalf. Therefore, it is critically important to have a living will in this day and age. If you don’t have a living will then you could be forced to live as a vegetable for many years.

3. Where should I keep my living will?

In addition to the client keeping a copy of the living will, copies should be distributed to the health care representative and the alternate. Moreover, a copy should be given to your personal physician. Family members, friends, or anyone else who is likely to be involved in your health care treatments should also be given a copy.

4. Will the terms of my living will be followed?

Yes. Everyone responsible for your care must respect and comply with the directives and wishes that you have specified in your living will. However, if your doctor, nurse or other professional has a sincere objection to respecting your wishes to refuse life-sustaining treatment, then he or she may have your care transferred to another professional who will carry them out.

5. Does New Jersey recognize living wills as legally binding documents?

Absolutely. In 1990, the Supreme Court of the United States confirmed that a person’s rights to make choices about medical care are protected by the Bill of Rights. Under New Jersey law a living will are clearly legal and binding legal documents. Moreover, hospitals and physicians must also honor your living will.

6. What happens if I regain the ability to make my own health care decisions?

If you should regain the ability to make your own health care decisions, then you will have the legal authority to make any decisions regarding your health care and treatment. Thereafter, the person who holds holding your medical power of attorney will not be able to make these decisions for you.

7. What if I don’t have a living will?

If you should become unable to make treatment decisions and if you do not have a living will, then your close family member(s) will talk to your doctor and make these decisions on your behalf. However, if your family members or physicians disagree about your medical care, then it may be necessary for a court to intervene and to appoint someone as your legal guardian. This also may be legally required if you do not have a family member to make decisions on your behalf. That is why it is very important to put your wishes in writing to make it clear who should decide for you, and to help your family and doctor know intentions.

8. Will I still be treated if I don’t have a living will?

Yes. You will still receive medical treatment even if you do not have a living will. Your health insurance company also can’t deny coverage based on whether or not you have a living will.

9. How are living wills executed?

A competent adult may execute a living will at any time. The living will must be signed by the declarant and witnessed by either two adult witnesses or a notary public or lawyer. The witnesses must also attest to the sound mind of the declarant, and that the living will was executed free of duress or undue influence. The health care representative or the agent as listed in the living will is ineligible to act as a witness. In New Jersey the agent is also referred to as a health care representative. New Jersey recognizes living wills executed in other states as long as they comply with the laws of New Jersey.

10. How can I make any changes to a living will?

A living will can be modified at any time, as long as the declarant (the person who makes the living will) still has the ability to make sound decisions. If there are any changes to the living will, they should also be witnessed and dated.

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Trusts are the process by which the grantor transfers legal ownership to a person or institution (called the trustee) to manage the property for the benefit of another person (called the beneficiary).

Trusts create a fiduciary relationship between the trustee and the beneficiary. The trustee must act solely in the best interests of the beneficiary when dealing with the trust property. If a trustee does not live up to this duty, the trustee is legally accountable to the beneficiary for any damage to his or her interests. The grantor may act as the trustee himself or herself, and retain ownership instead of transferring the property. A grantor may also name himself as one of the beneficiaries of the Trust.

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Three ways points can be reduced and/or deducted:

• For every year of safe driving (no violations or suspensions), up to three points may be subtracted from your point total. This reduction of points occurs one year after:
  • your last point violation; or
  • your license was restored; or
  • the last time annual safe driving points were subtracted from your record (whichever is later).
• After completion of a Motor Vehicle Services (MVS) offered driver improvement program, up to three points may be subtracted from your point total. These programs are only offered to problem drivers selected by MVS. Credit is given for one program maximum every two years.
• After completion of a MVS approved defensive driving course up to two points may be subtracted from your point total. Credit is given for one program maximum every five years.
• Please visit the “Improv-School” banner on my website: www.newjerseytrafficattorney.com for more information on on-line driver improvement program.

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If you are filing or thinking of filing a case against your employer indicating emotional distress due to harassment, beware of what you post on Facebook or MySpace.

Despite obvious issues with privacy concerns, a court in India has required employees claiming emotional distress in a sexual harassment case to provide any entries that the employees’ posted on their social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook and MySpace, regarding their emotional state.  EEOC v. Simply Storage Management LLC. (S.D. Ind.) Case No. 1:09-cv-1223.

While the content disclosed by an employee must be proven relevant to the case at hand, this decision is troubling for any employee pursuing a sexual harassment claim.  In part, the court determined that “the appropriate scope of relevance is any profiles, postings, or messages (including status updates, wall comments, causes joined, groups joined, activity streams, blog entries) and SNS applications for claimants . . . that reveal, refer, or relate to any emotion, feeling, or mental state, as well as communications that reveal, refer, or relate to events that could reasonably be expected to produce a significant emotion, feeling, or mental state.”

While EEOC v. Simply Storage Management LLC is not binding law in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it raises an important issue.  If you are considering or currently pursuing a claim, be aware that your employer may attempt to gain access to your SNS content.

Other New Jersey Labor and Employment law Legal articles can be found on New-Jersey-Lawyers.com. You can find  New Jersey labor lawyers  on New-Jersey-Lawyers.com and Njlawfirms.net and njlawyers-newjerseylawyers.com

3. WITNESSES:

If anyone saw how or why you slipped or tripped, obtain the names, addresses and telephone numbers of eyewitnesses, and make sure you obtain this information yourself.  This is extremely important when there are different stories as to how the accident happened, for example, when the business claims to have inspected or cleaned the area just prior to the incident, or when they claim that they their surveillance cameras weren’t working or weren’t on at the time of the incident, etc.

If you don’t obtain witness information at the scene, it is probably lost forever.

4. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE:

If you were caused to slip on a wet substance, and got on your clothes or shoes, then please do not wash them and do not throw them away, but save them in this condition.  Similarly, if your clothes were torn, or got blood on them, preserve them in this condition.  Save your receipt to prove the date and time you were at their business.  If the injury involves snow or ice, you must take pictures as soon as possible before it melts, so you are able to prove the condition that caused your fall — if you don’t do this immediately, you have lost the opportunity to photograph the dangerous condition.

If you were bruised or have other obvious signs of injury, you should also have someone take pictures of any bruises on your body – black and blue marks, bruises, cuts, anything that proves that there were forces to your body from the incident.  This evidence proves that your body experienced a forceful blow, and the photos will help contradict the defendant’s insurance company’s doctor who will certainly have a great resume, and who will say that you are not injured at all, or not as seriously as your own doctor testifies

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1. How do the police measure a driver’s speed?

Generally, police use the following methods to catch you speeding:

a. A visual estimate. The officer sees your car and estimates how fast you are going.

b. Pacing. The police officer follows your vehicle at the same speed you are traveling and checks the police car’s speedometer to see how fast you are going.

c. Radar. The officer points a radar gun at your car and it calculates your speed.

d. Laser. The officer points a laser gun at your car and it calculates your speed.

2. Why is the concept of hearsay important in challenging a speeding ticket?

Be aware of any hearsay in a speeding case in Municipal Court. In challenging your ticket, you will want to be aware of a key legal rule called “hearsay” that could help your case. The hearsay rule bars any testimony that quotes information from somebody other than the witness. This is sometimes called the “he said” rule because it forbids a witness from testifying to what somebody else said he saw. There is a huge catch to this hearsay rule.  You must affirmatively object or the judge will allow the testimony.

Here are the most common scenarios in which a prosecutor is most likely to use hearsay evidence to prove a speed violation:

a. An officer testifies about what another driver told her about your behavior.

b. The officer who wrote your ticket testifies about what another officer told him.

c. Where two officers were in a patrol car, and one of them observed your driving. The officer who did not see your driving may not testify to what the other officer told him about your driving.

d. The prosecutor tries to introduce an absent officer’s police report or other written record into court in place of live testimony. If this should occur, then you should simply object on the basis that it is hearsay. If the officer is not present, then the written report is inadmissible hearsay testimony.

3. What is pacing?

Many speeding tickets are issued from the police officer following or “pacing” a suspected speeder and using his or her own speedometer to clock the suspect’s speed. With this technique, the officer must maintain a constant distance between her vehicle and the suspect’s car long enough to make a reasonably accurate estimate of its speed.

The road configuration where you were busted may help prove inadequate pacing. Hills, curves, traffic lights, and stop signs can all help you prove that an officer did not pace you long enough. For example, an officer following your vehicle a few hundred feet behind will often lose sight of it at a curve, not allowing enough distance to properly pace the vehicle. Similarly, if you were ticketed within 500 feet of starting up from a stop sign or light, the officer will not be able to prove that she paced your car for a reasonable distance.

4. How can pacing be inaccurate?

There are many ways that pacing results can be proven to be inaccurate. The farther back the officer, the less accurate the pace for an accurate “pace.” The officer must keep an equal distance between her car and your car for the entire time you are being paced. The officer’s speedometer reading, after all, means nothing if she is driving faster than you are in an attempt to catch up with you. That’s why an officer is trained to “bumper pace” your car by keeping a constant distance between her front bumper and your rear bumper. Pacing correctly requires both training and good depth perception. Moreover, pacing becomes more difficult the farther behind the officer is from your car. The most accurate pace occurs where the officer is right behind you. However, patrol officers like to remain some distance behind a suspect, to avoid alerting a driver who periodically glances at his rear view and side view mirrors.

Therefore, if you know an officer was close behind you for only a short distance, your best tactic in court is to try to show that the officer’s supposed “pacing” speed was really just a “catch up” speed. You will want to ask the officer the distance over which he tailed you. If he admits it was only a short distance, then it will help your case. Your goal is to use the speeds that the officer testified to for his car while he was pacing you to argue that he used his speed while closing in on you as you were driving under the speed limit…..click here to finish this article

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