Estate Planning Information

We help you plan for your future. With a detailed written questionnaire and client interview, we elicit the relevant information to protect you and your family in the future. Our Plan of Protection is designed to ensure that a) you control who makes financial and healthcare decisions for you in the event that you lack capacity; b) you control how your assets are distributed upon your death; c) you decide whether to take steps to avoid probate, minimize estate taxes, and implement MassHealth planning techniques; and d) you age with dignity and control.

Our standard Plan of Protection includes the following documents:

1. Will - This document ensures that you - and not the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - determine the beneficiaries of your assets upon your death. Your Will also appoints a legal representative (an Executor if it is a man or Executrix if it is a woman) to carry out your wishes. In addition, your Will appoints a Guardian of your minor children (if any). Your Will, however, only covers probate property, not joint property, trust property, or life insurance proceeds.
   
   
2. Durable Power of Attorney - Under a power of attorney, you may appoint someone else to act for you when you are unable to do so yourself. The reason may be your mental incapacity or your inability to be somewhere when needed. The person you appoint - your "attorney-in-fact" - must always act in your best interest and try to make choices you would make if you were able to do so. This document must be crafted carefully to allow for implementing effective MassHealth planning strategies.
   
   
3. Health Care Proxy - Similarly, a health care proxy allows you to appoint someone else to act as your agent for medical, as opposed to financial, decisions. Your health care proxy does not take effect until your doctor determines that you are incapable of making decisions yourself. Thus, until your doctor reaches that conclusion, your agent may make no decisions on your behalf.
   
   
4. Directive to Physicians (Living Will) - You may affirmatively request that your health care agent refuse or remove life support in the event you are in a coma or a vegetative state. Your Living Will helps assure that your moment of death is not artificially prolonged.
   
   
5. Appointment of a Guardian of a Minor - This document allows you to appoint a Guardian of your minor child or disabled children in the event that you lack capacity to care for him or her during your lifetime.
   
   
6. Homestead Declaration - An Estate of Homestead is a type of protection for a home or real estate, in the form of a document called a "Declaration of Estate of Homestead". The form is filed at the Registry of Deeds in the county where the property is located, along with the title/deed to the property. It allows homeowners in Massachusetts to protect equity in their property up to five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) of the value per residence, per family.



7. Trusts - In addition, certain clients will benefit from Trust Planning, which can help them a) avoid probate; b) minimize estate taxes; c) care for a disabled child; d) provide for their minor children; e) shelter assets from potential creditors or for long-term care planning (MassHealth benefits). A trust is a legal entity under which one person - the "trustee " - holds legal title to property for the benefit of others - the "beneficiaries." The trustee must follow the rules provided in the trust instrument. An irrevocable trust is one that cannot be changed after it has been created. A revocable trust is one that may be changed or rescinded by the person who created it.