Blog

It can be tough when you face the moment where you become responsible for your parents—but it may  happen. It’s smart to plan for that before illness renders your parents incapable of handling their own finances. Aging parents may find it hard to believe they are no longer fully capable of running their own lives,Read more

The fact of your looming mortality isn’t exactly light-hearted dinner conversation, but as the saying goes, death and taxes are the only two certainties in life. Do your loved ones know how you want your funeral handled—or if you want one at all? If you care what happens to your body and how you’re remembered,Read more

The average cost of a nursing home ranges from $50,000 per year up to $92,000 per year (for a private room), which is simply out of reach for many older Americans. In Massachusetts the number can exceed $150,000 annually.  That can deplete your resources quickly, and no one wants to see their life’s savings disappearRead more

The best New Year’s resolution for 2020 may be to protect your family and loved ones by reviewing your estate plan. Being prepared for the unexpected can help everyone during a time of stress and emotion. The below checklist can get you started. Baker Law Group can help ensure your plan meets your wishes —Read more

Use your Estate to gift money, property or personal loans When your estate tax liability is too high for your personal preferences or needs, you may want to consider gifting your assets. With some strategic planning and advice from an estate planning lawyer, gifting assets to others may reduce your tax liability and keep youRead more

Taking on the role of estate personal representative or executor is an important and often emotionally fraught task: you’ll be responsible for managing the deceased’s entire estate. Mishandling the estate administration can result in liability to the estate or its beneficiaries. This article helps you to know what you’re likely to encounter before you acceptRead more

When you’re looking into applying for MassHealth (Medicaid), you should consider seeking an attorney for professional assistance. MassHealth has strict asset limits and making even minor mistakes can lead to long disqualification periods. Sometimes, all you’ll need is help gathering documents and filling out the forms, but for some, this will require wealth transfers. WhenRead more

A handwritten will may (1) have it’s validity challenged, (2) increase the cost to an estate, and (3) result in the distribution of assets in a manner that was not intended. Consider if saving on legal fees would be worth the drawbacks of having a handwritten will. In Massachusetts, if you are over 18 andRead more

Longer lives don’t always mean healthy lives; according to the Alzheimer’s Association, about half of people who live past age 85 will suffer from some form of dementia. Watching a loved one lose their language, reasoning abilities and memories is tragic, which makes it important for them to have an estate plan. When you’re caringRead more

No one wants to think about the end of life, but everyone should put their end-of-life wishes into writing. Making an estate plan isn’t just for the wealthy and it is not limited to a last will and testament. It can prevent unpleasant family disputes, take care of your dependents, and can ensure that you’llRead more

When a loved one passes away, it’s difficult enough without having to sort out emotionally fraught estate issues. Plus, there are laws that govern the transfer of property which can make everything more complicated while you just need to grieve. It’s best to plan ahead so that you and your loved ones never have toRead more

As you work with your attorney to plan your estate, one tool you may consider implementing is a testamentary trust. This type of trust is created in your last will and testament, with terms specified in the will. Unlike living trusts, testamentary trusts only start to act after your death. This means you’re able toRead more

Without a will, state law will determine what happens to your property that goes through the probate courts. This process is referred to as “intestate succession.” Your property will NOT pass to the state; instead, the law directs it to pass to your next of kin as illustrated in the chart below. In Massachusetts, consultRead more

Part of life is a role reversal that hits as our parents reach old age. For many people, at some point they become incapable of truly caring for themselves or maintaining their own home, at which point that role reversal hits, and the children become the caretakers. By this time, the children have often reachedRead more

Living trusts are a critical part of many people’s estate plans. Like wills, they are a method of transferring assets to your beneficiaries after your passing. However, they have many benefits that wills do not, which is why estate planners often urge clients to set up living trusts rather than relying solely on their lastRead more

One question we commonly receive from clients is whether or not estate planning is really necessary in their situation if they do not have any children. This is a well-meaning question, but it shows a general misunderstanding of what exactly estate planning is and why it’s important. Estate planning is more than just leaving behindRead more

Occasionally, we hear from clients or from others who have some objections to the idea of Medicaid planning in the context of paying for nursing home care. MassHealth is the Medicaid Program in Massachusetts. These objections are understandable to a degree—Medicaid planning does sometimes involve strategically eliminating assets so you can qualify for Medicaid andRead more

Medicaid is the single-largest source for funding nursing home care that exists in the United States. In Massachusetts, the Medicaid program is called MassHealth. With as prevalent as it is, one would think the general population would be more knowledgeable about it, including who qualifies and exactly what it covers. However, there are a lotRead more

One of the questions we commonly receive from estate planning clients is what would happen to their assets if they passed away without a will. Most simply put, the state’s intestacy laws would dictate how your assets are passed out to surviving relatives. The laws of intestate succession vary depending on whether you were marriedRead more

While you might need to “spend down” some of your assets to qualify for Medicaid or MassHealth in Massachusetts. To pay for your nursing home care, you typically will not have to sell your house as part of this process. However, there is still a chance the state will attempt to file a claim againstRead more

As you go through the process of planning your estate, you will need to designate beneficiaries for certain types of assets, including some insurance policies and accounts. For example, certain retirement plans (IRAs, 401(k)s, etc.), life insurance policies and payable on death accounts will all ask you to name a beneficiary. Beneficiary designations are independentRead more

Writing a will is one of the most critical ways you can protect your loved ones and your assets after you pass away. Sure, there aren’t many people who enjoy spending time thinking about their eventual death and how it will affect those closest to them, but these difficult conversations and brainstorming sessions are necessaryRead more

If you have a trust as part of your estate plan, it’s likely you’ve named yourself as the current trustee and your spouse or partner to be a co-trustee. If you die or become unable to manage your own affairs, your spouse would then step in for you to serve as your successor. But whatRead more

To be able to pay for certain types of medical care with Medicaid known as MassHealth in Massachusetts, you must first qualify to receive Medicaid assistance. Medicaid is typically reserved for people who have low monthly incomes and/or few available assets to pay for their medical care. There are some people who have too muchRead more

Whether you consider your estate basic, simple, complex, small or large, an estate planning attorney is someone who is dedicated to mentoring clients on how they can properly organize their estate and affairs to prepare for the eventuality of their death or potential disability. No matter the size or complexity, the tasks associated with estateRead more

If you’ve spent any amount of time investigating the possibility of nursing home care for yourself or a loved one, then you know just how expensive it can be. Fortunately, there are many ways to get assistance with paying the costs of nursing home care. Here is a quick overview of the most common waysRead more

While organizing your own funeral might not exactly be a task you take on with great enthusiasm, it is something you can do to help remove some of the burden from your loved ones in the immediate aftermath of your eventual passing. Your loved ones will already have plenty of other decisions to make andRead more

If you are at least 65 years old or are in need of long-term care services, you may apply for MassHealth, Massachusetts’ Medicaid program. There are three ways of applying for the program: Applying by mail To complete the application by mail, print out the Application for Health Coverage for Seniors and people Needing Long-TermRead more

Medicaid planning is an important part of estate planning for many people. Without the proper expert advice, there is the potential to make some mistakes that could cost you and your family quite a bit of money. Medicaid rules change frequently, so it’s important to work with an experienced elder law attorney who can helpRead more

It is an unfortunate reality that many seniors will become victims of elder abuse, and that these incidents of elder abuse add more than $5 billion per year to healthcare expenses in the United States. One report from the National Center on Elder Abuse estimated seniors lose $3 billion due to financial abuse per year.Read more