Margolis & Bloom Blog | Elder Law, Special Needs and Estate Planning Information

SNT vs. ABLE Account: Which Makes More Sense for You

Should Landlord-Tenant Laws Apply to Assisted Living Facilities?

Massachusetts Taxes Real Estate in Estates of Non-Residents

Now or Never, MassHealth to Close Door on Pooled Disability Trusts

5 Ways to Divide Tangible Property in an Estate

States Experiment on Long-Term Care, But Where's Massachusetts?

Have You Wondered What You Need to Do as Executor? A Website Provides the Answers

If You Haven't Saved Enough for Retirement, You're Not Alone, and It's Not Your Fault

Social Security Decisions Can Have a Major Impact on Your Benefits

Senior Tax Breaks: Boon or Ticking Bomb?

Is MassHealth Really a State Budget Buster?

7 Questions to Ask Regarding Your Vacation Home

8 Dos and 2 Don'ts for Serving as Trustee

6 Rules of Thumb in Choosing Your Agent Under Your Durable Power of Attorney

5 Reasons to Use a Pooled Trust for MassHealth

D'Agostino Wins MassHealth Trust Case

Timing is Everything: Don’t Wait Too Long to Sue Your Brother

Will the Vacation Home Keep the Family Together or Tear it Apart?

Should Seniors Downsize or Age in Place?

7 Ways to Divvy Up Your Stuff

What is the Standard for Incapacity to Sign a Legal Document?

Trustee Beware -- Fee Petition Turned Down

7 Reasons to Use a Professional Trustee

The Facts on Alzheimer's Disease and Other Forms of Dementia

4 Steps to Protect Your Digital Estate

This Isn’t What My Stepfather Would Have Wanted

Where Should You Live as You Age?

What Happens in Massachusetts if You Don't have a Health Care Proxy?

Lawyer for the Situation or for the Family

Don't Let the Perfect Plan Get in the Way of a Good One

How Much Should You Give to Charity? When? Which Charities?

When to Use an ABLE Account

Divorce-Created SNT Deemed Self-Settled for Creditor Purposes

SJC Rules Surviving Spouse Gets Life Estate in Real Estate

Consumer Disclosures Now Mandated for Assisted Living Residents

Court Faults "Arbitrary and Capricious" MassHealth Hearing Decision

6 Red Flags of Potential Undue Influence, and How to Respond

What's a Trustee to Do Without Guidance? Provide a Letter of Wishes

Beware the Use of Preprinted Probate Forms

5 Management Lessons from Bill Belichick

Don't Ask a Neuropsychologist About Legal Capacity

Benson and Margolis named Super Lawyers, Again

UBS as IRA Custodian has Fiduciary Duty to Beneficiary

How Will We House an Aging Population?

Benson and D'Agostino Speak at ALCA - New England Conference

Maine to Vote on Universal Home Care Ballot Initiative

Older Couple Ordered to Complete Sale of Nahant Home Despite Claim of Incapacity

Protecting the Rights of Massachusetts Voters with Disabilities

Strategies for a Full Life with Dementia

Why the Governor's Council Should be Abolished

Home Care Benefits and Risks

Russell, McTernan, McTernan & Fruci of Norwood, Merges with Margolis & Bloom

Can an On-Line Note Serve as a Will?

Bonazzoli Recommends Program for Dealing with Estate Planning Unknowns

Why Didn't Aretha Have a Will?

To Issue or Children -- An "Issue" of Interpretation

If You Live Part of the Year Out-of-State, Do You Need Estate Planning Documents for that State Too?

Why You Don't Need to Review Your Estate Plan Every Five Years (Unless You're Over 60)

Why Would Anyone Do Estate Planning? A Lot of Bang for the Buck

New Organization Supports Caring Policy and Documentary

New End-of-Life Resource in Massachusetts

MassHealth Held to Violate Notice Requirements in Trust Cases

USEFUL TOOL: Pre-Guardianship Checklist

Caregivers Overwhelmed, Survey Reports

John Oliver Explains Guardianship

Does Contested Language Create a Life Estate in Land?

MassHealth Permitted Late Intervention in Personal Injury Case

What's It Like to Meet with an Attorney to Do Your Estate Plan?

Bloom and Margolies, No That's Not a Typo

Globe Reports on Young Man Stung By Social Security System

Brookline Nursing Home Subject to 93A Claim

M&B Attorneys Win Two MassHealth Trust Hearings

Should You Engage in Massachusetts Estate Tax Planning?

Managing Risk for Unpredictable Events

MassHealth Denial in Trust Case Overturned

Why We Don't Plan: Prunes

Why Are Lawyers So Expensive?

Why Most Married Nursing Home Residents Can Get MassHealth Coverage

Is Demography Destiny?

Your Must-Have Checklist if You Need Guardianship When Your Child with Special Needs Turns 18

How Many Agents Do You Have?

Be Nice to Your Beneficiaries, or Don't Be Their Trustee

Patricia C. D’Agostino Becomes Partner

Another Reason to Support the Estate Tax

What Do You Do When the Bank is Unreasonable?

What's In the New Tax Law?

Should My Financial Planner Be a CFP, CLU, or a What?

The Estate Tax: Going, Going, Gone?

Can You Name More Than One Person on a Health Care Proxy?

What Happens If Your Trustee Can't Serve?

Choosing a Trustee for A Child’s Special Needs Trust

What Would the House Tax Bill Mean for Seniors?

Assisted Living Facilities Are Subject to Landlord Tenant Law

“I’d be Honored”: Paving the Way For Your Special Needs Trustee - Preparing a Memorandum of Intent

Risking Old Age in America

Accounting Firm Gets into the Practice of Law: Is this the Future for the Legal Profession?

A Bittersweet Season: Caring for Our Aging Parents -- and Ourselves

7 Reasons to Create a Family Protection Trust, and 4 Not To

If Your Trust Isn't Working, Don't Recant, Decant

Should My Lawyer Be a Member of NAEPC, AAEPA, ACTEC, NAELA, etc.?

Are You Aging Wisely? Advice From Those Walking the Path

Why Are Legal Documents So Long?

Where's Your Dog? The Answer Might Affect Your Estate Taxes

MassHealth Planning is Not for Everyone

Is Medicaid Planning Ethical?

Florida Governor Vetoes Electronic Will Act

Senate to Poor, Disabled and Elderly: You're On Your Own

Trump-Ryan-McConnell Plan Takes Aim at Your Parents, and You

Making Charitable Contributions from Your IRA

SJC Rejects MassHealth "Availability" Doctrine

June 1st Marks 30 Years of Elder Law and Special Needs Planning

7 Solutions If You Transferred Assets Within 5 Years of Moving to a Nursing Home

Who Should Build a Wall? Mexican Life Expectancy to Equal that in the US by 2030

ABLE Opens in Massachusetts

Appeals Court Confirms Use of POAs in Life Estate Deeds

Special Needs Trusts and Retirement Benefits: A Complicated Subject

ABLE Accounts Preserve Food Stamp Eligibility

Low Dementia Growth Predicted for Massachusetts

7 Reasons You Should Consider A QTIP Trust

Talk to Your Client, or Face the Consequences

A Different Approach to Estate Planning

5 Reasons to Use a Lawyer for MassHealth Planning

2 Reasons Surviving Spouses Should File Federal Estate Tax Returns: Portability and Capital Gains

Parenting a Child on the Autism Spectrum: A Curious Incident

The Trump-Ryan Plan for Medicaid Moves Towards Block Grants

Managing Stress Can Save a Caregivers Life

Deconstructing Conflict: Understanding Family Business, Shared Wealth and Power

Reminder: There is No Such Thing as a Medicare "Improvement" Standard

What Happens if Your Lawyer Doesn't Retire?

How the Differences between SSI and SSDI Can Impact Financial Planning for Your Special Needs Child

Making Sure the Inheritance for Your Special Needs Child Doesn't Disappear

Trump Tax Plan May Discourage Charitable Deductions

The IEP/BSEA Hearing Process and Pitfalls for Clinicians Working with Special Needs Children

Questions & Answers on Protecting the Family Home

Beware the Mass Estate Tax at the Threshold

Is Your Financial Advisor a Fiduciary?

MassHealth Seeking to Limit Use of Pooled Trusts

Major Change to Eligibility Criteria for Home and Community Based Services Waiver

How LTCI Companies Shoot Themselves in the Foot

Probate Court Upholds Beneficiary Designation: Attorney-in-fact Executed Documents for Her Own Benefit

New Law Adds to Hospital Discharge Protections

Grandfather May Intervene in Granddaughter's Guardianship

Congress Passes Special Needs Fairness Act

Announcing the Creation of the Trump Policy Analysis Group Focusing on Older Americans and Individuals with Special Needs

Benson, Bloom and Margolis are (Still) Super Lawyers

Is Anyone Entitled to an Inheritance?

The Difference Between SSI and SSDI

What Does a Trump Presidency Mean to Estate and Long-Term Care Planning?

The Massachusetts Estate Tax on Out-of-State Real Estate: Conflict, Quandary, and New Court Ruling

Housing for Your Special Needs Child: A Legal and Personal Perspective

Explaining the Inexplicable: The Massachusetts Estate Tax and Gifting

SNAP (Food Stamp) Benefits for Disabled Young Adults Living at Home

Demented Patient Liable for Injuries He Causes

Margolis & Mariscal Chapter Published

Adult Foster Care: Valuable Help for the Parents of Disabled Children

Is Your Trust Subject to Massachusetts Income Tax?

SJC Picks Up Two Irrevocable Trust Cases for Review

Protecting the Rights of Massachusetts Voters with Disabilities

Avoiding Massachusetts Taxes: So You Want to Move to Florida?

US Agency Strengthens Protections for Nursing Home Residents

Case Illustrates, but Rejects, Doctrine of Merger in Trust Law

Housing: Is My Intellectually Disabled Child Likely to be Entitled to a State-Funded Group Home?

What's a Trust and Why are There So Many Different Kinds?

Personal Care Attendants: Valuable Help for Parents of Disabled Children

CMS Protects Nursing Home Residents’ Right to a Jury Trial

MassHealth Planning and Real Estate

Housing Models for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities Who Are Not in State-Supported Housing

Using Annuities in MassHealth Planning for Nursing Home Residents

Funding a Special Needs Trust With Life Insurance

5 Essential Estate Planning Documents and Why They Matter To You

What does it mean to be an agent under a durable power of attorney in Massachusetts?

Funding Your Revocable Living Trust: Re-Titling Assets and Re-Naming Beneficiaries

How one couple prioritized conflicting estate planning goals

WellesleyWeston Magazine Publishes Mariscal Opinion

Are You Saving to Leave an Inheritance? Why?

Who Should Get Your Stuff When You Die? And Who Should Decide?

Laughter is the Best Medicine: Humor in the Special Needs Parenting Trenches

Accessory Apartments: Keeping Our Special Needs Children and Elderly Close

Massachusetts SJC Overturns Pfannenstiehl, Affirming Use of Asset Protection Trusts

So You've Been Appointed Trustee, Now What?

Five Myths about How We Age

Beta Test the Latest Innovation in Estate Planning

MassHealth Imposing Asset Limit on Community Spouse of Frail Elder Waiver Applicants in Fall 2016

10 Reasons to Review Your Estate Plan

Philadelphia Franklin Institute has Egg on its Face in Disability Lawsuit

Oldest American and Massachusetts Resident Passes Away

Care Management Pioneer Passes Away

To Live Really Long, Be Female and Japanese

A Tale of Two Americas

Victory for Special Needs Trusts and Section 8 in DeCambre

Get On It! The Centralized Section 8 Waiting List

Beware Your Old Bypass Trust

A Long Bright Future: What Will You Do with Your Extra 30 Years?

Little-Known Social Security Benefit for Parents of Disabled Children

See the US Population Age Before Your Eyes

Bowie Yes, Prince No: More Lessons from Celebrity Estates

The Future of Law According to LegalZoom

Expanded Estate Recovery NOT included in House Committee on Ways and Means FY 2017 Budget Recommendations

The Caregiver's Path to Compassionate Decision Making

Favorable Decision from Appeals Court on Irrevocable Trusts

At What Age Should You Do Long-Term Care Planning?

Another Trust Bites the Dust, or Why You Should Review Your Plan Periodically

EXPANDED ESTATE RECOVERY – We Need Your Help By 4/7/16!

The Crisis Facing America's Working Daughters

5 Rules You Need to Know About the Tax on Capital Gains

What is Probate and Should You Avoid It?

5 Things You Should Expect from Your Attorney

10 Steps You Can Take to Avoid Elder Financial Abuse

Governor Baker Seeks to Expand Estate Recovery

The Top 10 Blog Posts of 2015

8 More Ways to Protect Your Home from MassHealth Estate Recovery: Part 2

Will You Need Long-Term Care?

The History of Autism – A Disease, a Disability, or Another Mode of Normalcy?

Exciting New Proposal to Help With Housing for Elderly and Disabled in Massachusetts

Court Says Irrevocable Trust Countable Due to “Use and Occupancy” Right

What's Wrong with LegalZoom and RocketLawyer?

Court Rejects Income-Only Trust Created by MassHealth Applicant

MassHealth Coverage of Long-Term Care Projected to Grow Significantly

11 Nursing Homes to Avoid?

Your Likely Need and Cost of Long-Term Care

ABLE Act Closer to Becoming a Reality

4 Ways to Protect Your House from MassHealth Estate Recovery: Part 1

Understanding Desperation: Parents of Special Needs Children Who Do the Unthinkable

Three Decades of Elder Law: My, How It's Changed!

Does an Annuity Make Sense for Retirement Planning?

Some Sobering Statistics, Especially for Baby Boomers

Not Gifting to a Special Needs Child? Recent Case Highlights Risks

Trust Reformation Causes MassHealth Penalty

What to Do About Medicare Observation Status

Organ Donation Saves Lives - Massachusetts

Why Are Durable Powers of Attorney So Long?

How to Fleece an Estate . . . or Giving Lawyers a Bad Name

5@55: The Essential Estate Planning Documents

Does Pfannenstiehl Case Undermine Asset Protection in Massachusetts?

Why We Should Keep Baby Boomers on the Job

Should Non-Lawyers Own Law Firms?

Steinberg Laments Lack of Wheelchair Access in Boston

10 Questions to Ask an Elder Law Attorney

6 Stories Tell the Unpredictability and Challenges of Aging

Obesity Decline a Good Omen for Elder Care

Supplemental Needs Trusts: Do They Need a Separate Tax ID?

Incentive Trusts: Long Arm of the Dead?

Should You Disinherit Your Kids?

5 Tips on Hiring a Lawyer

How Should Fees for Estate Planning Be Set?

Why Won't People Pay for Financial Planning?

4 Models for Attorney-Client Advising

Section 8 and Special Needs Trusts: Confusing Massachusetts Federal Case Could Cause Problems

Barreira Provides Guidance on MassHealth Appeals

Do You Employ Someone in Your Home?

Some Elder Care Forms You Can Use

Support Full Judicial Funding

Assisted Living Keeps Growing in Massachusetts

Not Even Close: Raising a Child with Autisim

Using Immediate Annuities in MassHealth Planning for Single Nursing Home Residents

Immediate Annuities in MassHealth Planning for Married Couples

Census Bureau Issues Revealing Report on Older Americans

Case Highlights PI Attorney Settlement Planning Responsibility

Form Over Function: Court Decision Guts Special Needs Trust

Anticipating the Costs of Long Term Care

7 Decisions to Make for Your Durable Power of Attorney

If You're a Super Lawyer, Where's Your Cape?

VA Benefits for Home Care to be Restricted: Comment on Proposal Now.

When is the Right Time to Purchase Long-Term Care Insurance?

Digital Estate Planning: Who Should Have Access to Your On-line Accounts?

The MassHealth PCA Program Can Pay Children to Care for Parents

Is a Probate Proceeding Always Required After Someone Dies?

How Pushy Should Attorneys Be?

ABLE Accounts: A Little Deflating

Beneficiaries: By Group or By Person?

Proving Testamentary Capacity: A Sound Mind at the Time of Signing

5 Reasons Why Disinheritance is Not a Viable Option for Special Needs Planning

SSA and IRS 2015 COLA Numbers

How to Protect an Inherited IRA

Lessons from Henry's Boys: The Rights of the Intellectually Disabled in the Workplace

How Much Does MassHealth Pay Nursing Homes?

5 Steps to Avoid Outliving Your Money

5 Estate Planning Tips for the Non-Nuclear Family

How to Tailor Your Asset Protection Trust

Why is Long-Term Care Planning So Complicated?

Dueling Deeds: An Example of Why Legal Work Must be by The Book

New Study Reports Decreased Nursing Home Risk

The Effect of the Market on Retirement Solvency

Beware of Deed Scams

Black Heirlooms: How Lack of Estate Planning Tore One Family Apart

What are Trust Protectors and Should You Have One?

7 Ways a Donor Advised Fund Can Help Your Charitable Giving

Premium Assistance from MassHealth for Private Health Insurance

Are We Elder Law or Elder Care Attorneys?

Attending The Lion King with my Autistic Son

MassHealth Trust Database On Line

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish on Professional Fees?

But Not All MassHealth Trust Cases Go the Right Way

MassHealth Reversed in Another Trust Case

10 Questions to Answer Before Moving In

6 Questions to Ask When You've Been Invited to be Trustee

How Has the Affordable Care Act Changed Eligibility for MassHealth

What's a Trustee to Do? Providing Guidance

Health Care Agents Cannot Bind Nursing Home Residents to Arbitration

Learning from Adults with Special Needs at Specialized Housing

If You Have No Children, Hire a Lawyer for Your Estate Planning

Should You Use a Lawyer or LegalZoom for Your Estate Plan?

Beware Rolling Over Too Many IRAs

MassHealth Appeal Denied as Form Defeats Function

Nursing Home Physician Cannot be Compelled To Arbitrate Malpractice Claim

Is an Inherited IRA Protected from Creditors? No!

4 Tax Benefits Available to Baby Boomers Caring for Seniors

Will an iPhone be Admitted to Probate?

Will MassHealth Take My House?

Roz Chast Pens Book on Parents' Declining Years

7 Issues to Consider When Choosing a Trustee

Nursing Home Closures Blamed on Medicaid Reimbursement Rates

Bipartisan Policy Center Working on Long-Term Care Proposal

A Short Introduction to Special Needs Planning

5 Tips on Deciding Whether to Buy Long-Term Care Insurance

The 3 Pitfalls of Joint Ownership for Estate Planning

Michelle Singletary Makes Plea for Durable Powers of Attorney

Beware Beneficiary Designations - Massachusetts Estate Planning

FAQs About Your Health Care Proxy - Massachusetts

Massachusetts Nursing Home Case Barred by Statute of Limitations

Don't Just Hope for an Inheritance, Get It In Writing

Philip Seymour Hoffman: Another Celebrity's Will Creates Problems

Millionaires on Medicaid? - Massachusetts

Considerations in Making Gifts to Your Grandchildren - Massachusetts

How Are My Social Security Benefits Taxed?

How Should Lawyers Charge? -- Massachusetts

Do I Need to Pay Income Taxes on My Social Security Benefits?

Is Increased Medicare Spending on Hospice Care Good or Bad?

How You Can Use Your Social Security Benefits as an Interest-Free Loan

Have You Had the Talk? - End-of-Life Conversations

The New Elder Law: Stay-At-Home Planning

5 Questions to Ask Before Making Gifts for MassHealth or Tax Planning

Cure vs. Care: The Whacked Out World of Medicare Reimbursement

Could They Make Capital Gains Taxes Any More Complicated?

Massachusetts Population to Grow Slowly, But Age Fast

Is My MassHealth Asset Protection Trust Still Good? - Massachusetts

Social Security, Medicare and Tax Adjustments in 2014

9 (Potential) Problems with Your Trust - Massachusetts

Nursing Homes are Not the Enemy - Massachusetts

Mother's Favoritism Held Not to Reflect Incompetence

How Can Family Cohabiting and House Ownership Work?

Who Gets Grandma's Yellow Pie Plate? - Massachusetts

Protect Your Pets with a Pet Trust - Massachusetts

LTCI - MassHealth Issues Clarified

When Should You Call In an Elder Mediator? -- Massachusetts

18 Tips to Avoid Identity Theft and Scams

How Do Divorce & Remarriage Affect Social Security Benefits?

How Much Do You Need to Retire? -- Massachusetts

Attorney Could Have Prevented Undue Influence

Attorney Reprimanded For Failure to Properly Settle Case

Wisconsin Court Permits Challenge to Marriage Based on Incapacity

Who Should You Choose as Trustee of a Special Needs Trust?

Why I Support Estate Taxes

Support Disabled Children of Veterans

What is Settlement Planning?

Supreme Judicial Court Hears Oral Argument in Nursing Home Cases

Reliant Energy - Customer Service to Avoid

"Special" or "Supplemental" Needs Trusts? - Massachusetts

Case Raises Serious Issues About Special Needs Trustees

How Not to Settle a Personal Injury Lawsuit

How Many Agents Should You Name on Your Durable Power of Attorney?

10 Facts You Need to Know about Medicare

Court Finds Grandmother Unduly Influenced by Grandson - Massachusetts

Support the Special Needs Trust Fairness Act

How Can I Protect My House from MassHealth?

Special Needs Trustees Beware!

Should I Buy Long-Term Care Insurance?

Three Essential Documents for Parents of Children with Special Needs

Massachusetts Taxes Below National Average

3 Steps to Take When Your Child Turns 18 -- Massachusetts

Estate Planning for your Digital Assets? - Massachusetts

Was James Gandolfini's Will a Mistake?

Beware Engaging Banks as Executors - Massachusetts

DC Court Rejects Family Trust of Massachusetts Appeal

What Taxes do Trusts Pay?

MassHealth Programs are Available to Help with the Cost of Care at Home

How Good is Your Durable Power of Attorney? - Massachusetts

Moral of Claim Against Estate: Get Married or Get It in Writing

Estate Planning in the Age of Stepfamilies

How Bankrupt is Medicare? - Massachusetts

How to Make Gifts to Grandchildren - Massachusetts

The High Cost of Special Needs Requires a Plan

Beware Hidden Costs of Mutual Funds - Massachusetts

Decanting: When is a Trust Like a Bottle of Wine? - Massachusetts

Glenn Close Brings Fight Against Mental Illness Stigma to Massachusetts

An Alternative to the Chained-CPI Social Security Proposal

Promissory Notes and Medicaid Planning - Massachusetts

Buy Long-Term Care Insurance with Long Elimination Period

Life Estate Owners: Beware Solvency of Remaindermen - Massachusetts

Should You Prepare a MassHealth Application Yourself? - Massachusetts

Pay Your Mom's Nursing Home Bill or Go to Jail - Massachusetts

Nursing Home Enforces Doctrine of Necessaries -- Massachusetts

Estate Planning Attorneys Beware -- Massachusetts

How to Avoid Problems as a Trustee - Massachusetts

All Older Marriages Need Prenuptial Agreements

Maguire Decision Limits MassHealth Caretaker Child Exception

What's the Difference Between "Supplemental" and "Special" Needs Trusts? - Massachusetts

5 Guidelines for Caring for the Caregiver - Massachusetts

Beware Too Specific Language in Special Needs Trusts - Massachusetts

5 Issues to Consider When Creating a Special Needs Trust - Massachusetts

What Can Jim Morrison’s Simple Will Teach Us About Estate Planning?

What is a Life Estate and Why Would You Want One? - Massachusetts

Beware Bankers Life Long-Term Care Insurance - Massachusetts

The Rules in Massachusetts if You Don't Have a Will

Why Medicaid Planning Isn't for Everybody - Massachusetts

Can I Get Help in Massachusetts with the Cost of Caring for My Parent at Home?

The Descendants Illustrates an Estate Planning Riddle - The Rule Against Perpetuities

5 Rules You Need to Know About MassHealth Nursing Home Eligibility

Check the Language in Your Special Needs Trust

Is Guardianship Necessary When a Child with Special Needs Turns 18?

What Does "Maintenance, Comfort and Support" in Trust Really Mean?

Do You Live in a NORC?

What to Do About Dueling Powers of Attorney

Should Your Durable Power of Attorney be "Springing"

Does a Health Care Proxy Trump Guardianship

Is a General Assignment Sufficient to Fund a Revocable Trust?

Are Lawyers Off the Hook for Estate Planning Mistakes?

Will Debt Forgiveness in a Will Work?

Why Estate Planning is More Interesting Than Ever

Why Lawyers Should Think Twice About Serving as Trustee

Should You Have to Spend Down for MassHealth Coverage?

Put It In Writing Before You Move In

MassHealth Nursing Home Residents Should Keep Their Medigap Insurance

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