While perhaps long overdue, there have been significant efforts by activists and lawmakers to reassess the way the law and policy impacts people with disabilities. Outdated law and policies established generations ago are being evaluated to address the growing need for flexibility and adaptability; the increase in demands for fairness and equality; and the concept of affording the disabled the right to self-direct to the extent of their abilities.
While this is an evolving area of the law that will continue to change, there are three developments that New York practitioners, family members and individuals with disabilities should watch: the loosening of laws surrounding the creation of a first-party supplemental needs trust; ability to create an ABLE account; and challenge to the constitutionality of New York's Surrogate's Court Procedure Act Article 17-A.
Read more from the Buffalo Law Journal.