Have done this series of more personal posts during the winter while staff is coordinating specific legal posts on some things you may not see - like a petition to partition - (there were 69 of those in Norfolk County - last year I've done a few of...

What do you do for "light reading? "Vanity Fair Magazine? (I get it). AARP? I still get my father's National Rifleman. For me, to do This, the probate work, I read Bogert on Trusts, on the MCLE Catalog for courses, or sections of the UTC...

This office has started negotiation with representatives of two unions in the hope that an arrangement could be made to do all the probate work for the union members. Perhaps you know or yourself represent some organization or entity that would...

This blog is a bit different. It's not like some probate lawyers you would read; containing essentially arcane descriptions of legal terms (e.g. power of appointment) or specific probate legal facts (the need for two disinterested witnesses and a...

A beneficiary can attempt to remove a trustee. Before the court will order removal, some cause usually must be shown why the trustee ought to be removed. The court will not interfere unless some beneficial end is thereby to be achieved. In some cases...

If you are the beneficiary of a trust, you cannot be kept in the dark. There is duty on the trustee of a trust to report and inform. MGL. Ch. 203D, Sec 813 provides: Duty to inform and report: a)  A trustee shall keep the qualified...

This office has been involved in a number of will contests. There is a specific procedure to be followed. You must file an appearance before the return date of a formal proceeding; or file your own petition for formal administration of contesting a...

The office was recently able to obtain a "victory" by having the court allow an informal probate of an estate technically more than three (3) years old. The common course is to have a more costly, time consuming formal probate. The things to...

One of the sad realities I had hit me personally was seeing a host of shows, some fiction, some documentary and news, highlighting the tragedy of a spike in the number of deaths through substance abuse. It is sobering recognizing death is not...

This office concentrates on probate administration for a reason. Not everyone will suffer an accident, get arrested, go through a divorce, or be part of a large corporate structure. Bur everyone will die, at some point. The smart person is much like a...