Most of my clients come into my office with a few basic goals. They want things to be simple for their family, they want to pay fewer taxes, and they want their assets to go to the right people. We can usually help them with this by drafting estate planning documents and helping to organize the...
One of the changes that we've seen as a result of the pandemic is a greater number of people retiring. This is as true in the legal field as anywhere else. When your attorney retires, you may be wondering what to do next. In estate planning, the first thing to think about is "Where are my orig...
What is an EP update and why do I need one? Imagine that you came in and did your initial estate planning with us twelve years ago. Your children were 16 and 17 and you were in the middle of lots of work drama, your mother was living close by and your spouse had just started a new business vent...
We are pleased to welcome Attorney Heather Dennehy to our team. Heather has run her own estate planning practice since 2019. Before working on her own, she served as an estate planning associate at Dalton & Finegold in Andover for eight years. Prior to that, Heather worked as Associate Counsel i...
Proper planning can help your family prepare for the financial toll and protect assets for future generations. Long-term care can be very expensive, especially around-the-clock nursing home care. Most people end up paying for nursing home care out of their savings until they run out, at which p...
September is right around the corner, and although this year is different from other years, the fall is sometimes the time we take a look at the things we want to get organized and put in order. Kids should be going back to school, summer vacations winding down, flip flops being replaced by lace...
Many of you with brokerage accounts may have encountered questions about "Trusted Contacts". In 2018, new rules were put in place to protect seniors with brokerage accounts from financial scams that could drain the accounts before anyone notices. As the population ages, elder financial abuse is...
Dick and Jane came to see me shortly after Lizzie, Dick's mother, a widow, died in Chatham, Massachusetts. Dick indicated that he was named the executor of his mother's will. Despite having advised Dick that his mother should consider re-titling her assets in order to avoid probate, she either r...
As many of you are aware, the Federal privacy laws restrict the ability of medical providers to give out confidential medical information about your health. While this is a tremendous protection under most circumstances, it also acts to prevent family members from receiving updates on loved ones...
Our Plans -- Your Plans During the COVID-19 emergency, we will be working primarily from our private offices at 47 Pleasant Street, Gloucester. This space is limited to our staff and clients and we feel we can do a more thorough job of cleaning the space and screening those who visit us. We wi...
I am pleased to announce that as of March 1, 2020, our new Gloucester address will be 47 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA 01930. It is beautiful old building with lots of charm, and we'd love to have you visit us there. The North Andover office will stay where it is, and we don't have any plans...
The words we use in estate planning can be confusing and make the whole process of thinking about planning more difficult than it needs to be. Below are a few of the basic documents and a quick overview of what they do. Some of these vary a bit from one state to another, but this a starting poi...
My partner, Ray Cannon, created the chronicles of Dick and Jane to help clients understand some of the intricacies of estate planning and elder law. With thanks and appreciation for his sense of humor and legal skills, we bring you the 2019 life of Dick and Jane. JANE HAS A CHILD Jane called m...
My partner, Ray Cannon, created the chronicles of Dick and Jane to help clients understand some of the intricacies of estate planning and elder law. With thanks and appreciation for his sense of humor and legal skills, we bring you the 2019 life of Dick and Jane. Dick and Jane came to see me sh...
My partner, Ray Cannon, created the chronicles of Dick and Jane to help clients understand some of the intricacies of estate planning and elder law. With thanks and appreciation for his sense of humor and legal skills, we bring you the 2019 life of Dick and Jane. JANE'S FATHER DECIDES TO PROTEC...
My partner, Ray Cannon, created the chronicles of Dick and Jane to help clients understand some of the intricacies of estate planning and elder law. With thanks and appreciation for his sense of humor and legal skills, we bring you the 2019 life of Dick and Jane. Jane recently graduated from ...
As an elder law attorney, I hear this fear, or variations of it, from many of our older clients. There is plenty to be worried about in the world of nursing home and healthcare costs, but in general, having the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ‘take your house' should come off that list. If you are...
In our estate planning practice, we sometimes have clients with large animals like horses, animals that live a long time like birds, or other pets that are important members of the client's life. If you become ill, incapacitated, or pass away, what provisions need to be made for the care of your...
I wrote a few months ago about what to do if you have a young adult child coming home from college. Many of these items are also true if you have a young adult child in the military. I have a 21 year old son serving in the Army, and I was surprised that he was not encouraged to have a healthcar...
Frequently Asked Questions -- Probate How Do I Open an Estate Account? After someone has passed away and you have been appointed Personal Representative (this used to be called the Executor) you now have the task of gathering up all the assets and paying bills. You need an estate account, us...
Almost one in five Americans with a college degree are still gainfully employed. That's the highest number in more than fifty years. If you've got a college degree, your chances of working past age 65 are higher, and you'll also find it easier to keep working. Americans are delaying retirement p...
How Will Aging Parent's Needs Impact Your Family? We like to think money doesn't matter when it comes to the ones we love, but if an elderly parent should need skilled nursing care and has no resources, the family will need to know what's coming next. At some point, families have to face the gr...
By now, the dorms are filled, and a new fall semester is underway. However, you can still take care of these often-overlooked details for your college student. If you were so busy focusing on the logistics of getting your student off to college, that you didn't have time to get to the details be...
Where You Die Matters, If You Want to Minimize Your Heir's Tax Burden Depending on where you die, you may be able to leave a relatively large sum to your heirs, tax-free, since some states have tied their state estate taxes to the federal amount. If you die in 2018 in Hawaii, Maine or Washingto...
What is a Medicaid Annuity? This financial product isn't without some controversy. However, it may be a smart move, and can alleviate worry about your home and income if your spouse needs nursing home care. It's not an unusual scenario: one spouse has moved to live in a nursing home and will ne...
If you are interested in speaking with an attorney about estate planning, elder law, or probate work, please give us a call to schedule a consultation. Most initial consultations are free of charge.