Do you have a MOLST? Do you know if you should? MOLST stands for Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment. A MOLST is a standardized document that translates a patient’s preferences for certain life-sustaining medical treatments into an actual medical order. The medical order is effectively immediately, as soon as the doctor and patient sign the MOLST. It must be followed just like any other medical order. You can change your MOLST at any time. You can change the treatment you want even if it contradicts what you noted in your MOLST. While you should consult your physician about your specific Read More
Category: incapacity documents
Incapacity Documents in Other States
As winter approaches, I’ve been asked by clients who are going to warmer climates whether they should have additional incapacity documents drafted in the state where they will stay most of the winter. The first thing I tell them is to make sure their Massachusetts incapacity documents are current. They may want to change their health care proxy or perhaps the contact information for people listed in those documents has changed. Once we address the Massachusetts documents and make sure they are current and properly executed, then I talk about the issue of other jurisdictions. If you are just going 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