Recently, I have seen posts on Facebook horse groups that ask if people have plans for the care of their horse if they are incapacitated or die. Many people say they have talked to a friend or they have written some informal agreement. Unfortunately, neither or those options are ones that will hold up if the person decides not to take care of the horse. Luckily, there is a legal vehicle that allows you to plan for your horse’s future in the event you are incapacitated or die. That document is called an animal trust, and you can have one Read More
Category: estate planning
The Importance of a Medicaid Trust
The October 2019 issue of The Atlantic contains an article that highlights the importance of an Irrevocable Medicaid Trust. In the article, the author discusses how older individuals may lose their homes if they need go into a nursing home and need Medicaid (also known as MassHealth in Massachusetts) to pay for it. She asserts that it is a little-known fact that most people don’t know to address unless they have a lot of assets and are doing estate planning. I am here to tell you that you need to protect your home if you think you will need to Read More
What is Intestate?
Let’s back up a minute. What happens if you die without any estate planning at all? No will, no trust, nothing. If this happens, then you die intestate. Several things happen if you die intestate. Your estate must go through probate if you die intestate. This means the court must get involved to rule on the distribution of your assets because whatever possessions and property you have must, by law, be distributed. If you die without a will or trust, then Massachusetts law dictates how your assets will be distributed. You will not have any say in the matter. The Read More
You Get What You Pay For
Awhile back, I had a potential client contact me about creating her estate plan. She was well aware that she or her husband might have to go into a nursing home at some point, and she did not want to lose her family home to Medicaid if that happened. I discussed with her at length what I thought would be the best estate plan I could draft to suit her needs. She thought it sounded great and after discussing horses – she had horses in her childhood – I hung up from our conversation and sent her the requested engagement Read More
Let’s Start at the Very Beginning
I find that a lot of people aren’t sure what estate planning involves or if they really need an estate plan. Let’s start with an explanation of estate planning before I go into any specifics about it. What is Estate Planning? Estate planning sounds like it’s for very rich people who have a lot of property to give away and estate taxes to avoid. The truth is that estate planning is for anyone who has reached the age of majority, which is 18 years old in Massachusetts. It has two very important parts to it. One is your incapacity documents, Read More