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Recently a husband and wife executed documents. The key was that they had a daughter who was honest, capable and willing - to be the health care proxy for her dad, and power of attorney for BOTH, seeing as how wife is in decline. Normally you take...

People need to be aware that the probate laws changed drastically with the implementation of the Uniform Probate Code in 2012. People come in with estates that were processed 25 years ago, and there are now issues that need be resolved, e.g.,...

One sad aspect of practicing in today's world is that the system itself has broken down. Petitions for guardianship or adoption are held up for weeks because papers sit undocketed, and appointments delayed; notices of objection are in the...

Sometimes you have to tell a prospective client that they can't get what they'd like. You have to be inventive. You can't just deed over property to minors, or use what everyone thinks is the magic solution - a trust. People want to put...

People have come to the office looking to set up property for their children who, when coming for consultation, you find out they are likely to be pursuing divorce within the foreseeable future. A divorce invalidates a will created prior to...

The probate lawyer has to know how to handle various bureaucracies; whether it's the Economic Recovery Unit of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the clerk's office of the county involved, or the Bureau of Vital Statistics, etc. There is a...

In line with the persons post, it's informative to share that the creation of instruments (wills, POA, etc.) are items that can be quoted on a flat rate. Hours don't have to be kept track of. In firms, suburban and certainly urban, everything operates...

It is very interesting that several of my clients have tried it themselves by going to Legal Zoom-type sites to pay money to try to draft wills or other instruments for themselves. It is enlightening to find that in all the cases where people did...

Have a will? Maybe you're like that client who did, but the lawyer erred in putting the wrong date on the notarial portion. It required two extra trips to the clerk's office, filing a motion, and a tremendous amount of extra time, grief, etc. CALL...

The problems the office is seeing are very frustrating. Because people are now being confronted with the need to probate the estate of a loved one years after their passing. This presents legal problems, more formal proceedings, and greater cost and...