The New Massachusetts Pet Trust | Ensuring Your Animals are Cared for Part 1
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been very busy over the past few years overhauling much of its probate code to reflect modern family circumstances. With respect to traditional estate planning, for example, the code changes Massachusetts estate distribution to ensure that all children in mixed marriage families receive some inheritance (if no will is present). […]
How to Probate Real Estate in Massachusetts | Informal vs. Formal
One of the greatest uncertainties for probate clients, probate attorneys and the probate courts after implementation of the new Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code [MUPC] concerns how to deal with the real estate of a decedent’s estate. Under prior law, the executor or personal representative simply needed to apply for a license to sell through the […]
Paying for Nursing Home Care with Medicare or Medicaid | How MassHealth Works
After visiting the hospital from a sudden fall, or some other unexpected medical event, an older or elderly patient almost always requires some extended time for recovery. But a hospital bed isn’t really the appropriate place for such a long recovery, since hospitals are intended mainly to care for those needing emergency attention, intensive care, […]
How to Avoid Massachusetts Estate Taxes | Massachusetts Estate Planners’ Toolkit
As we described in an earlier article, calculating the Massachusetts Estate tax (imposed on estates over about $1 million) is not an easy task. So it should be no wonder that families find it difficult to form an estate plan that incorporates a Massachusetts estate tax strategy. Actually avoiding such a tax (also called the […]
What is an S Corporation and Why Form One in Massachusetts?
The “S Corporation” gets its name from the IRS code provision (Subchapter S) that allows for a shareholder-owned corporation with just one layer of tax (as opposed to a Subchapter C corporation that is taxed twice: once on corporate profits and then a second time on proceeds to shareholders). The S Corporation is formed at […]
Why Avoid Probate? | Cape Cod Probate & Estate Law
One of our first articles outlined the ways that our clients in Massachusetts and on Cape can avoid probate. In fact, avoiding probate is one of the most frequent goals we hear when first meeting with clients. But the information gap we encounter most seems to be that clients don’t understand the reasons behind avoiding […]
MassHealth Long Term Care Eligibility | Activities of Daily Living
In addition to the complicated financial requirements for becoming eligible for MassHealth long term care benefits, an applicant must also qualify physically. This of course makes perfect sense. If the government provides a service as costly as long term care to individuals for free, then there must be some way to measure the medical necessity […]
Is the Family Business Protected? | Cape Cod Business Lawyer Succession Plan Pt. 1
A great portion of business planning intersects with the more complex aspects of general estate planning. Most business owners have family members that rely on this income for support, so that some kind of plan should be in place to provide for them should the business owner pass away. In Massachusetts this can be true […]
Estate Planning in Sandwich & Cape Cod Towns | Massachusetts Estate Tax Planning
Clients seeking an estate plan from a Cape Cod attorney come to us often because they live locally, and they know that we understand the added complexities of Cape Cod estate plans. That complexity is, in a word (or two), real estate. While many other estates in communities around Massachusetts will certainly have the family […]
Quicker Probate in Massachusetts? | Theory vs. Practice in the New MAUPC
By now Massachusetts estate planning and probate attorneys have had the chance to deal and work with the new Massachusetts Probate Code, first effective March 31, 2012. It has been said that no matter how long an attorney has practiced in Massachusetts probate law, all are now novices under the new code. But the much-anticipated […]