In this issue:
1 Police may enter a home without a warrant when they have an objectively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant is seriously injured or imminently threatened with such injury
2. Chiropractor can be expert in car accident personal injury case
3 Car Parked in Parking lot not DWI
4 New webpage: Quasi criminal rights of persons charged with Motor vehicle offenses including DWI and Driving While Suspended
5. Visitation of Children
6 Upcoming events:
Wills, The New Probate Law, Estate Administration & Elder Law Monday, October 16, 2006 7 - 8:30 P.M.
7. Real Estate Broker and Salesperson Services are offered
8. Life Insurance Facts
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1 Police may enter a home without a warrant when they have an objectively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant is seriously injured or imminently threatened with such injury Brigham City v Stuart US Supreme Court 126 S.Ct. 1943 (2006)
Responding to a 3 a.m. call about a loud party, police arrived at the house in question, heard shouting inside, proceeded down the driveway, and saw two juveniles drinking beer in the backyard. Entering the yard, they saw through a screen door and windows an altercation in the kitchen between four adults and a juvenile, who punched one of the adults, causing him to spit blood in a sink. An officer opened the screen door and announced the officers’ presence. Unnoticed amid the tumult, the officer entered the kitchen and again cried out, whereupon the altercation gradually subsided. The officers arrested respondents and charged them with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and related offenses.
The US Supreme Court held: The officers’ entry here was plainly reasonable under the circumstances. Given the tumult at the house when they arrived, it was obvious that knocking on the front door would have been futile. Moreover, in light of the fracas they observed in the kitchen, the officers had an objectively reasonable basis for believing both that the injured adult might need help and that the violence was just beginning. Nothing in the Fourth Amendment required them to wait until another blow rendered someone unconscious, semiconscious, or worse before entering. The manner of their entry was also reasonable, since nobody heard the first announcement of their presence, and it was only after the announcing officer stepped into the kitchen and announced himself again that the tumult subsided. That announcement was at least equivalent to a knock on the screen door and, under the circumstances, there was no violation of the Fourth Amendment’s knock-and-announce rule. Furthermore, once the announcement was made, the officers were free to enter; it would serve no purpose to make them stand dumbly at the door awaiting a response while those within brawled on, oblivious to their presence.
2. Chiropractor can be expert in car accident personal injury case
REED v. ENDL
(1) a chiropractor is qualified to render an opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty regarding injuries to a patient’s cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine, (2) the certification of permanency supplied by the plaintiff’s chiropractor satisfied the requirements of §39:6A-8a, and (3) the plaintiff satisfied the verbal threshold and met his burden of proving that he had sustained a permanent injury by providing objective credible evidence which consisted of an MRI that indicated a disc herniation and medical reports from the chiropractor and another physician that set forth clinical findings based on post-accident physical examinations.
Appellate Division, A-2768-05T2, September 27, 2006, not approved for publication. source: Facts-on-Call Order No. 20249
3 Car Parked in Parking lot not DWI
STATE v. KNOLMAYER
Conviction of driving while intoxicated reversed, and conviction of refusal to submit to a Breathalyzer test reversed and remanded for a new trial; as to the DWI conviction, the Law Division’s conclusion that the State had proved the defendant’s “intent to operate” his vehicle was not supported by the evidence, which indicated (1) that a police officer found the defendant seated in the driver’s seat of his car at 2:06 a.m. with the engine off and without a key in the ignition, (2) that the car was “legally parked in a residential neighborhood,” was not parked awkwardly, and was not visibly damaged, (3) that the officer did not see the defendant drive his car, and (4) that the defendant’s assertions that he had not driven were “uncontroverted”; furthermore, the State did not prove an inference of operation because the ignition key was secured in a console and was found only when the vehicle was searched; as to the refusal conviction, it had to be retried under the beyond a reasonable doubt standard of proof pursuant to State v. Cummings.
Appellate Division, A-4836-04T2, April 5, 2006, not approved for publication. (16 pages). Facts-on-Call Order No. 19483
4 New webpage: Quasi criminal rights of persons charged with Motor vehicle offenses including DWI and Driving While Suspended
http://www.njlaws.com/quasicriminalrights.htm
5. Visitation of Children
Family cases and divorce cases in New Jersey are governed by the Court Rules set up by the NJ Supreme Court. The following is a portion of the NJ Court Rules which apply to certain family cases:
RULE 5:8. CUSTODY OF CHILDREN
http://www.geocities.com/kenvnjlaw/VisitationChildren.html
6 Upcoming events:
Wills, The New Probate Law, Estate Administration & Elder Law Monday, October 16, 2006 7 - 8:30 P.M.
WHERE: Edison High School Community Adult Education
SPEAKER: Kenneth Vercammen, Esq. of Edison
(Co-Author- NJ Elder Law & Probate)
- So you don't have a Will. You won't live forever and you can't take it with you. What should you do?
Main Topics:
1. Wills and the 2006 changes to the NJ Probate Law
2. Power of Attorney
3. Living Will
4. Administering the Estate/ Probate/Surrogate
5. Estate Planning
6. Revocable Trusts/ Irrevocable Trusts
7. Federal HIPAA Regulations on release of medical info
8. Federal Estate Tax
COMPLIMENTARY MATERIAL: Brochures on Wills, "Probate and Administration of an Estate", Power of Attorney, Living Wills, Real Estate Sales for Seniors, and Trusts.
EDISON COMMUNITY ADULT SCHOOL.
EDISON HIGH SCHOOL, Room 193, 50 Blvd. of Eagles, Edison
732-452-4574 John Russell, Director
$25 registration fee required by adult school for all others. Call the Adult Education Office for registration information 732-452-4574
-Free for Edison Seniors who pre register
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7. Real Estate Broker and Salesperson Services are offered
To better serve our Probate and Senior citizen clients, Kenneth Vercammen has taken and passed the NJ Real Estate Salesperson test. The examination consists of numerous questions taken over a 4 hour period. Mr. Vercammen as a licensed real estate agent, is affiliated with Century 21, Cirri Germain on Amboy Avenue in Edison. Century 21 is one of the largest real estate agencies in the country.
If you will be selling a house, please give Kenneth Vercammen a call. Do not pay a 6% commission, but also don't rely on a 2% agency that merely lists your home on the internet, then expects you to do all the work. www.c21cirrigermain.com.
8. Life Insurance Facts
Did you know that you can combine various forms of coverage into one policy? For instance, you can get life insurance that
actually includes provisions (in the form of riders) for
long-term care. Is this a good deal?
Well, it depends. But, to be honest, if you are looking for
something that will cover your expenses if you need to be cared
for on a long-term basis, life insurance is a poor substitute for
long-term care coverage.
Life insurance with long-term care riders offers two options:
1) An acceleration rider that allows you to get an advance on
your death benefit.
2) An extension that increases the benefit to provide for
long-term care expenses.
These riders vary by company, with some allowing you to collect a
percentage of the death benefit each month and others that
reimburse your policy for long-term care expenses you incur,
thereby keeping your death benefit the same.
There are two potential problems with the riders:
1) Some of them require substantial deterioration in your health
before you can collect benefits.
2) They don't have monthly benefits that pay anywhere near the
full costs you would incur for long-term care. As an example, a
one-year stay in a nursing home can cost anywhere from $30,000 to
$60,000 or more, depending on the level of care you need.
Long-term care options in life insurance likely won't provide
more than a fraction of these amounts.
Despite this, the long-term care rider in life insurance could be an option for people with a fairly high income level and
significant assets.
Source: Ray Pavese & Mike McCormick
Pavese-McCormick Agency, Inc.
mikem@pavesemccormick.com
732-297-9300
route 1
South Brunswick
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Thank you for reading our newsletter! God Bless America USA #1
Kenneth Vercammen, Esq.
Speakers Bureau: The NJ State Bar Association established a community Speakers Bureau to provide educational programs to senior clubs, Unions and Middlesex County companies. During the past year, volunteer attorneys have provided Legal Rights Seminars to hundreds of seniors, business owners and their employees, unions, clubs and non-profit groups. If you are interested in having an attorney speak on Wills, Probate or Elder Law at an event, please call my office. These quality daytime educational programs will educate and even entertain. Clubs and companies are invited to schedule a free seminar during business hours.
"Celebrating more than 20 years of providing excellent service to clients 1985-2006" Former Prosecutor
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Editor's Note and Disclaimer: All materials Copyright 2006. You may pass along the information on the NJ Laws Newsletter and website, provided the name and address of the Law Office is included.
Always schedule an office appointment with an experienced attorney when you have a legal matter. The Rules of Court limit an attorney's ability to discuss matters over the phone. If you have legal questions, you should schedule an in- office consultation.
KENNETH VERCAMMEN & ASSOCIATES, PC
ATTORNEY AT LAW
2053 Woodbridge Ave.
Edison, NJ 08817
(Phone) 732-572-0500
(Fax) 732-572-0030
website: www.njlaws.com
