2012 Articles
The Massachusetts Benefit Corporation A New Entity Has Been Created for Socially Responsible Businesses
- Jeffrey I. Fialky • 2012-12-17
- While businesses continue to move forward throughout difficult and uncertain fiscal times, some companies have chosen to ensure that their growth and prosperity is not only directed towards the benefit …
Designating Beneficiaries: A Critical Step to Allocating Your Assets as You Desire
- Hyman G. Darling • 2012-12-01
- The beneficiaries and back-up beneficiaries named on retirement plans and life insurance policies must be carefully considered and properly designated. A single person without children, for example, may want siblings, …
Uncle Sam is Coming to Dinner – Act Now for Year-End Tax Planning
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-12-01
- Year end is soon approaching. As you sit down for your holiday dinner, remember that soon Uncle Sam will be visiting you to enjoy his share of your bounty. Despite …
Cost/Benefit Analysis: Thinking About Moving Your Business Financing Across the Street?
- Gary G. Breton • 2012-11-05
- So….you, as a business owner, have finally made a decision, (or have at least given it a great deal of thought,) to take your company’s business financing needs to another …
The Legal End of Alzheimer’s A Diagnosis Leads to Special Legal, Financial Issues
- Todd C. Ratner • 2012-11-01
- The diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can be heartbreaking for both the person afflicted with the illness and their family members. Alzheimer’s, a common form of dementia, is a brain disorder …
Caregiver Stress – The Next Epidemic?
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-11-01
- “I’m so stressed out!” Certainly, all of us have made this proclamation. Take a moment now to think of how you felt at that time, and you will get a …
Caring for Your Ailing or Aging Parent – Know and Fully Understand the Personal and Financial Ramifications
- Hyman G. Darling • 2012-10-01
- Caring for a parent is often considered a job or a task. But what if your family turned this situation around and looked at it as a rewarding experience that …
Keeping the Court Out of Your Personal Decisions
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-10-01
- Each year, numerous petitions are filed with the court seeking the appointment of a guardian and/or conservator to make decisions for a person who has lost their ability to make …
Dollars and Sense: Is This the Right Time to Refinance Your Mortgage?
- Donna L. Wexler • 2012-09-10
- Over the past several months, the mortgage interest rates have dropped to the lowest they ever have been in history. It’s anybody’s guess if they will continue to drop, but …
Good Grief! – How to Properly Prepare Your Family to Handle Your Death
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-09-01
- Imagine that today you pass away. Your loved ones would be devastated, but they would, nonetheless, be called upon to tend to your final affairs – arranging your funeral, managing …
Protecting Assets from Nursing Home Costs
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-09-01
- Long term care costs can deplete your assets at an alarming rate. Of all Americans aged 65 or older, approximately 43% will enter a nursing home during their lifetime. The …
Oh Dear, College is Here! – How can I get my Ex to Help Pay?
- Melissa R. Gillis • 2012-08-27
- If you divorced your ex-spouse when your kids were young, it is possible that you did not consider the funding of your children’s college education in your support order. Now …
Vacation? Establish an Estate Plan Before Your Trip
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-08-15
- Vacation season is upon us, and it seems that everyone is planning to get away. Are you planning a trip? Perhaps you will head to the shore to enjoy the …
Elders and Driving: The Delicate Balance Between Safety and Independence
- Hyman G. Darling • 2012-08-01
- Every so often there is an article or news item that features an elder driver who has had an unfortunate accident. We hear reports of drivers who hit the wrong …
Where There’s a Will, There’s an Heir
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-08-01
- We’ve all heard the expression, “where there’s a will, there’s a way,” but among estate planning specialists, the old adage becomes “where there’s a Will, there’s an heir.” We have …
Usernames & Passwords & Logins, Oh My! Preventing a Disaster for Your Heirs
- Hyman G. Darling • 2012-07-26
- If you pay bills and bank online and handle much of your financial activity there, your agents under your Durable Power of Attorney, or the Executor of your Will, or …
Demystifying the Health Care Proxy
- Todd C. Ratner • 2012-07-11
- An essential estate planning tool is a heath care proxy. This document allows a designated person called a health care agent to make health care decisions for you if you …
Bankruptcy Filing on Your Horizon? – Take Some Simple Steps to Protect Potential Future Inheritances
- Spencer A. Stone • 2012-07-02
- Bankruptcy can help you make a fresh start and provide tremendous emotional relief, but it may also negatively impact any potential future inheritances that you may be entitled to receive. …
Crosses to Bear: Health Care Proxies and How Religious Beliefs May Affect Them
- Lisa L. Halbert • 2012-07-01
- A Massachusetts Health Care Proxy, once properly executed, allows you to appoint another to make health care decisions for you at a time when you can not make informed decisions …
Wills vs. Trusts – Which is Right for You?
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-07-01
- One of the most common decisions you will face when establishing an estate plan is whether to create a Will or a Revocable Trust. Both Wills and Revocable Trusts are …
The Expectant Employer: Understand Your Obligations for Maternity and Paternity Leave
- Kevin V. Maltby • 2012-06-18
- At any given time, a female employee may approach you and share the wonderful news that she is pregnant. Similarly, a male employee may approach you with the news that …
The Sandwich Generation: Coping with Being Stuck in the Middle, Caring for Parents and Kids
- Lisa L. Halbert • 2012-06-01
- They call it the “Sandwich Generation,” those individuals who care for their young, college-aged, adult, or boomerang kids, while at the same time caring for and parents or in-laws who …
Is an IDIOT Trust Ever a Smart Choice?
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-06-01
- When it comes to protecting assets from nursing home costs, many believe that the solution is to place those assets in a trust. In some circumstances, establishing the type of …
Factors in Determining Whether to Incorporate
- Jeffrey I. Fialky • 2012-05-31
- Individuals forming new business enterprises, or perhaps those whose business enterprises have matured to the standpoint of pursuing the next level, often approach their accountants and attorneys when considering whether …
Ethical Wills Document Allows You to Bequeath More than Material Possessions
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-05-01
- To my daughter, I leave my passion for knowledge . . . To my son, I leave my love of laughter . . . When the time comes for you …
Staying at Home – Considerations for Elders and Their Caregivers
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-05-01
- Many elders live independently and fiercely guard their independence. When additional care becomes necessary to keep the elder healthy and safe, these elders prefer to stay in their home instead …
Peace of Mind: A Health Care Proxy Ensures That Wishes Will Be Honored
-
Kathleen Mitchell
• 2012-04-09
- No one likes to think about what might happen if they were in a serious accident or had a disease that left them unable to speak and make their wishes …
Insurance and Autistic Children: Update to ARICA Is Changing the Picture for Many Families
- Melissa R. Gillis • 2012-04-01
- Having a child with Autism creates many challenges, not the least of which is the potential financial impact on your family. Until recently, many families were burdened with a mountain …
Insurance and Autistic Children: Update to ARICA Is Changing the Picture for Many Families
- 2012-04-01
- Having a child with Autism creates many challenges, not the least of which is the potential financial impact on your family. Until recently, many families were burdened with a mountain …
Establish an Estate Plan Before Your Trip
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-04-01
- Spring has sprung, and it seems everyone is planning to get away. Are you planning a trip? Perhaps you will head to the shore to enjoy the weather or you …
A Time for Change: Measure Reforming Alimony Is Certainly History in the Making
- Melissa R. Gillis • 2012-03-12
- Get ready payors and recipients, a new statute is in town, and after so many years it’s finally about alimony. In a historic move, Governor Deval Patrick signed into law …
Testamentary Capacity: The Concept of ‘Sound Mind’ Is Not a Black-and-White Matter
- Todd C. Ratner • 2012-03-01
- At the turn of the 20th century, the average life expectancy was a mere 49 years and dementia was a rare phenomenon. Today’s average life expectancy exceeds 77 years. As …
The Life Estate Deed – One Option for Protecting Your Home
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-03-01
- The most cherished asset in most families is the family home. In many cases, the family home is also the largest asset. Typically, protecting that home from nursing home costs …
Long-Term Care for Elderly – Facing the Future
- Philip R. Smith • 2012-02-16
- Long term care and how to pay for it continues to be a major concern for Americans and our federal, state, and local governments. It can be defined as services …
Asset Protection Planning: Strategies for saving your money from nursing home expenses
- Lisa L. Halbert • 2012-02-15
- Asset protection planning concerns organizing your assets and affairs to guard against risk. There are many reasons to consider this type of planning, including an anticipated bankruptcy, large tax problem, …
The Do-not-resuscitate Order: Understand the Significance of This Important Document
- Hyman G. Darling • 2012-02-01
- Paramedics are often called to a home because of an emergency situation. In such instances, most people wish to be resuscitated or defibrillated in order to maintain their life and …
For the Love of Your Partner . . . Plan Now
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-02-01
- Times have changed, and many committed couples are now choosing to delay marriage, sometimes indefinitely. Although they are not married, they present themselves as a married couple would. They live …
Selling or Purchasing Real Estate: The Basics of the Purchase and Sale Agreement
- Gary F. Bevilacqua • 2012-01-26
- The Purchase and Sale Agreement (the agreement) is the very backbone of all real estate transactions. Once the agreement is signed, both parties, buyers and sellers, breathe a little easier …
Uniform Probate Code Revisited And Why You Should Still Avoid It Whenever Possible
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-01-01
- Suppose that tomorrow you are in an accident. Your injuries leave you unable to make your own medical and financial decisions. To make matters worse, you do not have a …
‘Tis the Season . . . to Review Your Estate Plan: A New Year’s Resolution That’s Easy to Keep
- Gina M. Barry • 2012-01-01
- It’s time to make your New Year’s resolutions! Most resolutions are so cumbersome, they are impossible to keep. A simple resolution to make and keep is to review your estate …