Helping You Achieve Your Estate Planning Goals

Our attorneys are dedicated to protecting the legacy you’ve built just as you were in creating it. We focus on preserving your home and savings while helping your family avoid future legal challenges. We can help you create a strong estate plan that ensures you accomplish your goals, including:

• Protecting assets against the risk of nursing home costs and Medicaid
• Eliminating or minimizing estate taxes
• Minimizing capital gains taxes
• Helping secure inheritances you leave to your beneficiaries, especially against risks like divorce or creditors
• Maintaining control of your assets, or creating a team to keep your family and loved one in control in the event of your incapacity
• Protecting your spouse if you should ever require care in a nursing home or long-term care in the community
• Allowing your estate to bypass the public probate court process after your death

We begin our estate planning by carefully listening to your goals. You are at the center of estate planning, and our systemized process moves from defining your goals to reviewing the current laws and regulations to designing strategies that help you achieve your goals.

Curley Law Firm LLP is located in Wakefield. Our lawyers offer decades of combined legal experience to assist individuals throughout Massachusetts with their estate planning matters.

Because we treat our clients with respect and dignity, we are able to establish an excellent rapport with them and truly understand their needs and goals. As your estate planning attorneys, you will find us committed to providing you with a cost-effective solution tailored to meet your estate planning goals.

For additional information about our qualifications and the benefits of retaining our services, please see our page entitled “Why Choose Us.”

Massachusetts Estate Planning Attorneys

Our Certified Elder Law Attorneys have dedicated themselves to estate planning and elder law. As a result, we are leaders in our field. We handle all aspects of estate planning, including the following:

• Wills: Our estate planning lawyers can prepare your will to ensure that you – and not the government – decide how to distribute your assets upon your death.
• Trusts: Our trust attorneys can prepare trusts to achieve a range of estate planning goals, including asset protection, estate tax minimization planning, probate avoidance, minor or special needs planning, and retirement planning.
• Health care proxies, HIPAA authorizations and living wills: Our estate planning attorneys assist clients with planning to ensure that in the event of your incapacity, medical decisions concerning your health can be made by a person you appoint and empower.
• Durable powers of attorney: Our asset protection attorneys can work with you to prepare a durable power of attorney that is specialized to ensure that even if you are incapacitated, your appointed agent can manage your finances and assets to maximize asset and income protection to the maximum extent permitted by law.

It’s wise to review your plan with a lawyer every three to five years, or after any major life event. This includes a marriage, divorce, birth or death in the family, a significant change in finances or health, or a move to another state.

For additional information about estate planning, please visit our Estate Planning Information page.

Demystifying The Estate Planning Process

An effective estate plan is built on informed decisions. Below, we answer some of the most frequent questions our attorneys receive about protecting one’s assets and planning for the future.

How do beneficiary designations coordinate with your will or trust?

Barring unusual circumstances, beneficiary designations on your accounts almost always override your will or trust. These accounts, such as 401(k)s, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), life insurance policies and some bank accounts, pass directly to the person named as the beneficiary by operation of law.

Unfortunately, these designations can disrupt an entire estate plan. For example, you may update your will to leave everything to your spouse. However, if a life insurance policy from 20 years ago still lists a sibling, that sibling will receive the funds. As part of our process, our attorneys will review these designations with you to make sure they are aligned with your overall planning goals.

What are the common mistakes that cause probate delays or disputes?

Some of the most common mistakes our attorneys see are conflicting beneficiary designations and the failure to properly fund a trust. As mentioned above, if your will says one thing and your account beneficiary says another, a dispute can easily arise.

Another frequent error is creating a trust but failing to legally transfer your assets into it. An empty trust does nothing to avoid probate. Assets, such as your home or bank accounts, generally should be re-titled in the trust’s name while you are alive.

Improperly executed documents, such as a will that lacks the correct witnesses, can also invalidate the plan. Generic form documents downloaded from the internet may miss critical language required by Massachusetts law. These errors often lead to family conflict and costly court delays. Working with a knowledgeable lawyer can help you avoid these common pitfalls.

How can you plan for digital assets, pets and personal items with sentimental value?

Your plan can and should account for these important assets. For personal items with sentimental value, your will can refer to a separate “personal property memorandum.” This is a signed letter where you list specific items, such as jewelry or heirlooms, and the person you wish to receive them.

Massachusetts law allows special trusts to protect and care for beloved pets. You can set aside funds in a trust to pay for your pet’s care and name a trusted caregiver. Planning for digital assets such as email, social media accounts or online banking is also vital. A durable power of attorney and will can give an agent or executor the legal authority to access, manage and close these accounts according to one’s wishes, but some accounts require special action under contract with the provider.

If your spouse needs care, how can you protect an inheritance for them if you pass away first?

You can protect an inheritance for a spouse who needs long-term care by using a specific type of trust in your will, often called a supplemental needs trust (SNT) or special needs trust. Instead of leaving assets directly to your surviving spouse, your will directs those assets into this SNT. Unlike other types of beneficiaries, an SNT for a spouse can generally only be created under a will.

A trustee manages the assets in the trust for the benefit of your spouse, but they are not considered countable assets for MassHealth eligibility. The trustee can use the funds to pay for quality of life enhancements and other supplemental needs not covered by MassHealth, such as personal items or specialized care. This strategy protects the inheritance from being spent down on nursing home or long-term care costs for your spouse that could otherwise be covered by MassHealth/Medicaid. Our board-Certified Elder Law Attorneys can discuss this option in more detail with you in a consultation.

Contact A Massachusetts Estate Planning Attorney

Schedule a consultation with one of our experienced lawyers by calling us at 866-406-8582 or filling out our online form. We are available for out-of-office appointments and serve clients in Wakefield, and throughout Essex, Suffolk and Middlesex counties.