This is, by far, the number one thing that holds up parents of young children on their way to the attorney’s office to get their wills and guardianship nominations done. I’ve had people tell me that their solution was to just wait until the kids turned 18 to do any sort of planning so they [...]
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In my line of work, I spend a lot of time with my clients talking about their wishes for the future. Who they want helping them, what kind of help they want, where they want their things to go when they pass away. I spend a lot of time making sure I understand completely what [...]
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I’ve talked before about how much of my work is helping people be prepared for things that might not happen, that they hope won’t happen or that they realize probably will happen but don’t want to think about. In my law practice I use legal strategies to help people prepare for the future. With a [...]
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If someone without a Will passes away in Massachusetts, the law states how their property is distributed. When that person is married, but has no children, many people think that all property would pass to their spouse. But that’s not actually what the law says. Let’s say for example we have a couple named Carrie [...]
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Many people pass away without a will in place. When meeting with clients who have no Will I like to let them know how their property would pass if they died without a Will in place. This way, even if they decide not to proceed they will at least know what will happen, and explaining [...]
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After the holidays. When school gets out. Once school is back in. When I turn ____. When the kids turn ____. When I get paid. Once I make all the decisions. When I’ve had a chance to sit down with my spouse/partner/financial planner/personal trainer. When the weather is nicer. When the weather isn’t so nice. [...]
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A lot of times when I’m meeting with clients they will ask me “how should we leave our stuff?” They have children, grandchildren, siblings, parents, nieces, nephews, charities they like to support and they are having trouble figuring out what to leave to whom. Obviously, I can’t answer it for them so I give the [...]
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If you find yourself need to change the guardianship nominations for your children, there are some steps you need to take. All parents of minor children (and parents of special needs children) should nominate guardians in legal documents so that if the parents become unable to care for their children, temporarily or permanently, someone has [...]
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Before I meet with clients, I send them questionnaire so they can gather information that will help us both be more productive in our meeting. In general, clients bring this paper work back in one of three ways: 1. Completely filled out with attachments and tabs, 2. Partially filled out (meaning they put their name [...]
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Readying a child for college involves a lot of preparation. Trips to IKEA to furnish the dorm room, doctor visits for vaccinations and sports clearances, and a visit to your attorney to make sure your child has the necessary legal documents in place. If that last one had you saying “what?,” read on. Your 18 [...]
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