Wills and Trusts Lawyer
Legal Help with Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney and Guardianship
The first and most important part of estate planning is defining your goals for your family, your finances and your future. There are many different legal tools that can be used to accomplish your goals. One is sure to fit both your needs and your budget.
We are Fall River Wills and Trusts lawyers Wilfred C. Driscoll, Jr. and Laurie A. Sanford. We've been helping families with estate planning and Medicaid planning for more than three decades. The focus of our law practice is family law and helping families plan for the future and for the care of loved ones through estate planning is a natural fit. (Remember, if you have recently been divorced, you will need to revisit your estate plan to update beneficiaries.)
Which Will Work for You: A Will or a Trust?
Many younger folks assume they can't afford to do estate planning because it will be too costly. That need not be the case. Furthermore, there are good reasons why even young people should have an estate plan.
- Young parents should plan for the care of young children by naming a guardian.
- No matter what your age, it's important that you communicate your wishes for end-of-life medical care. Writing an Advance Medical Directive and then giving your loved ones permission to make medical decisions for you will ensure your wishes are followed. We always include HIPAA releases in estate plans to ensure a doctor can talk about medical issues with our client's designated medical decision-maker.
When you have more assets – and especially if you want to place restrictions on when and how those assets are used – then you will want to consider a Trust. While a Trust is more expensive initially, it does not have to go through the process of probate, like a Will does. That saves your heirs the cost of probate and saves considerable time transferring assets.
Conditions that you can put on a Trust include age of the recipient when they can access the funds, whether they get all the funds or just the profits of investments in the Trust, and how the money can be used.
There are many kinds of Trusts, which differ according to how much control you retain during your lifetime and for what purpose you are creating the Trust. During our consultation we can discuss the type of Trust that will work best for your purposes.
Massachusetts Guardianship and Conservator Law
Massachusetts recently enacted a new Guardianship law that will have a significant effect on estate and Medicaid planning. A guardian has the power to make decisions on behalf of a child or incompetent person (also called a ward). They are, in essence, the voice of the ward.
Prior to the change in the law, a guardian had control over the assets of his or her ward. This sometimes led to problems as a guardian might take financial advantage of the ward. The new guardianship law frowns upon the guardian also being named the financial conservator of the estate. Now a second person must be named conservator unless there is a reason to do otherwise.
The new law has also created two distinct categories of wards: 1) elders and 2) minors/mentally incompetent persons. Elders and children over the age of 14 are assigned their own lawyer in court. Children over 14 also have the right to sign a petition saying where they would like to live.
Contact Massachusetts Guardianship Attorney Wilfred C. Driscoll, Jr.
If you are concerned about an elder or incompetent family member and would like to begin a Guardianship proceeding, call (508) 672-8718 to speak with us, Fall River guardianship attorney Wilfred C. Driscoll, Jr., or contact us online. We offer payment plans and flat-fee pricing for some legal matters.
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The Fall River, Massachusetts, law offices of Driscoll Sanford Family Law, represents clients across Bristol County, Plymouth County, Norfolk County, Barnstable County, as well as the communities of Quincy, Somerset, Swansea, Seekonk, Attleboro, New Bedford, Dartmouth, Wareham, Plymouth, Barnstable, Taunton, Bridgewater, Mansfield, Easton, Brockton, and throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.
