B.D. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health
Services, et al.
A-1868-06T1 12-10-07

In this appeal, the court considered whether B.D., a
seventy-seven-year-old, wheelchair-bound woman already in need
of services, received fair market value when she transferred her
home, which had been appraised at $259,917, together with the
right to receive the rental income on an apartment within the
home that was then generating $1,180 per month, to her grandson
in exchange for his satisfaction of a $67,374.98 mortgage,
$10,191.70 in cash, and a lease of the other apartment within
the home to B.D. "for life." Concluding that the phrase "for
life," which was accompanied by unexplained references in the
lease to B.D.'s life expectancy, together with uncertainty as to
B.D.'s rights to the leasehold if she ceased occupying them,
rendered questionable B.D.'s claim that she received fair market
value and warranted a hearing into the meaning of the lease
terms.