The United States Supreme Court Still Has Not Decided Whether to Take up Our Massachusetts Cases on Annuities of Community Spouses

The petition for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court for the Dermody and Mondor cases has not been approved or denied at this point. Rather, after a September 25, 2023 meeting to review the filings of both sides of the case, the Court simply wrote on October 2, 2023: ”The Solicitor General is invited to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States.” That could take quite a bit of time, and could be the judicial equivalent of ducking an issue, similar to a legislature sending a bill to a committee for further study. Thus, for the time being, annuities by community spouses in most cases will need to name the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the primary beneficiary, and utilizing the doctrine of spousal refusal should be considered in many cases.

The SCOTUS filings to date can be found at https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/22-957.html