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Dear Clients and Friends,
First, we want to send our best wishes to all of our clients and friends and especially to first responders, medical personnel and others on the front lines helping all of us carry on as best we can during these difficult times. We hope this finds you and your loved ones safe and well.
Please know that as always, we are here to help you if you have questions or concerns about your estate planning, long-term care planning or if you need help with estate or trust settlement. Our goal as always is to help you navigate these issues as they arise, and assist you in creating the right estate plan for your family.
We want to share practical and useful information that can help you during this time. We are operating as normal, except that most of us are now working remotely. You can reach us through normal channels, at our regular office phone number (781-461-1020) or via email.
We have a lot for you in this issue, including: Imaginative and Unique Estate Planning Provisions; Five More Important Numbers to Know When Applying for Long-Term Care Medicaid Benefits; Start Your Spring Housecleaning with Some Estate Planning; and Financial Resources for Challenging Times.
Most of the time, the Wills and Trusts our clients create include distribution provisions that would be considered 'traditional' (i.e. to heirs, to charities, managed in trust, etc.). Every so often, we see or read about (or are asked to draft) some more "colorful" provisions. In
Imaginative and Unique Estate Planning Provisions, one of those more colorful provisions comes from German poet Heinrich Heine, who left his estate to his wife, Matilda, on the condition that she remarry so that there "will be at least one man to regret my death." If you are looking for some amusing reading check out this article by Attorney Julia Abbott.
Are you thinking about long-term care and Medicaid and your eligibility? Attorney Abigail Poole presents some very topical information in the article Five More Important Numbers to Know When Applying for Long-Term Care Medicaid Benefits. This is a follow up to Abby's previous article Five Important Numbers to Know for Long-Term Care Benefits.
Some of us have been doing some spring cleaning during the stay-at-home advisory and now is also a good time to Start Your Spring Housecleaning with Some Estate Planning. Read on to determine if you have the appropriate legal documents in place in the event that you are not able to make or communicate your health care decisions.
In Financial Resources for Challenging Times, we outline some of the government stimulus programs to ensure you are aware of the financial help available to both individuals (unemployment, including for self-employed persons) and forgivable loans for companies (Paychecks Protection Program and others). The government's programs also include waiving the Required Minimum Distributions from all individual and company retirement accounts, extensions of time to repay loans from company retirement plans and more.
We want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone on the front lines of this pandemic. Medical personnel, first responders, law enforcement, essential store employees, delivery drivers, postal workers, bankers, and everyone else considered essential. We are making ourselves available during early morning hours or later in the evening to help people who may be working extended hours or non-traditional hours. Let us know what we can do to make planning easier for you during this stressful time.
Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions and please send us email addresses for new subscribers or forward this newsletter to friends and family members.
Suzanne R. Sayward
Maria C. Baler
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Here at Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC it is (mostly) business as usual, and we continue to do our work and deliver services to our clients. For the safety of our staff and our clients, most of us are now working remotely. You can still reach us the same way you always have, by calling the office at 781-461-1020, or emailing any one of us. Here are some changes to be aware of:
- Our firm hours are the same, 8 AM to 5 PM daily and all our team members are available. Phones will be answered during this time, and we do our best to respond to emails within 24 business hours.
- One staff member is in the office to receive mail and take credit card payments over the phone. The building is open Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 4 PM to allow for banking, but all other visitors to the building are strongly discouraged.
- All client meetings are conducted by phone or video conferencing, as each client prefers.
- We are available for early morning or evening calls to accommodate medical providers, first responders, those with young children at home, and others whose schedules may prevent them from being available during regular business hours.
- We hope that there will soon be emergency legislation in Massachusetts permitting remote notarization and witnessing of estate plan documents. In the meantime, we are conducting signings on a case by case basis using social distancing protocols, with clients remaining in their vehicles and our attorneys and team members observing the signing of documents from a safe distance.
We want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone on the front lines of this pandemic! Medical personnel, first responder, law enforcement, essential store employees, delivery drivers, postal workers, bankers, and everyone else considered essential. THANK YOU!!
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By Attorney Julia Abbott
As part of our work as estate planning attorneys, we draft and review a lot of Wills and Trusts. For the most part, they are pretty standard. The testator of a Will and the Grantor of a Trust tend to leave assets to a surviving spouse, and then to children. Of course, there are some variations - a "specific bequest" to a certain person or charity (a certain amount of money usually), or perhaps a child is disinherited due to a chemical dependency, a rocky marriage or a spending problem. But the majority of our clients' estate planning goals and objectives are to provide for their spouse and children and the Will and Trust documents they need are drafted accordingly. They tend not to include much humor or any "unusual requests" for the most part.
But every so often, we see or read about (or are asked to draft) some more "colorful" provisions. Here are some of the more creative Estate Planning requests we've seen or read about.
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By Attorney Abigail V. Poole
Back in December, I wrote about
Five Important Numbers to Know in the Event You Require Medicaid
(MassHealth) benefits to pay for long-term nursing home care expenses. To remind you, Medicaid is a federal/state government health care benefits program available to those who meet its medical and financial eligibility rules. Here are five more important numbers to keep in mind if you are applying for long-term care Medicaid benefits in Massachusetts.
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Start Your Spring Housecleaning With Some Estate Planning
By Attorney Julia Abbott
While this period of quarantine is the perfect opportunity to clean out your attic, catch up on your Netflix queue, or get in shape, this is also the time to make sure you have the appropriate legal documents in place in the event that you are not able to make or communicate your health care decisions. These documents include a Health Care Proxy and HIPAA Authorization and many choose to also execute a Living Will.
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Resources for Challenging Times
From your Samuel Financial LLC Team
We hope you are staying safe and finding ways to make the best of your time at home during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Previously, we've sent an outline of the government stimulus programs to ensure you are aware of the financial help available to both individuals (unemployment, including for self-employed persons) and forgivable loans for companies (Paychecks Protection Program and others). The government's programs also include waiving the Required Minimum Distributions from all individual and company retirement accounts and extensions of time to repay loans from company retirement plans, for just two more examples of the help available.
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Put Your Estate Plan on Your To Do List
Looking for something to do while at home practicing social distancing and waiting out the coronavirus? How about updating your estate plan?
These are scary times and uncertainty makes action difficult. At Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC we recognize that your estate plan might not be top of mind right now but there are good reasons why it should be:
- Updating your estate plan is something you can do without leaving your home. We can video conference with you or chat with you on the phone, as you like.
- Since the government has encouraged everyone to remain at home, this means many people who were too pressed for time to attend to their estate planning, now have the time. Don't squander it! This situation won't go on forever (thank goodness!)
- Given that we're in a health crisis, making sure your estate plan is up to date is more important than ever.
To encourage people to create or update their estate plans, we are offering a 15% discount to those who contact us and schedule an estate planning appointment before May 15th and who mention this opportunity. All appointments are being held by video conference or phone until the governor lifts the order to stay home, so you don't even need to leave the comfort of your home to create or update your estate plan.
We look forward to hearing from you soon and to taking care of you and your family for many years to come!
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What's New at Samuel, Sayward & Baler
Here's what's been happening at Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC!
Welcome Attorney Julia Abbott!
Attorney Julia Abbott joined the firm as a partner in February of 2020. Julia is an experienced and respected estate planning attorney, focusing her practice in the areas of estate planning, elder law, long-term care planning and probate and trust administration. Julia has experience in both private practice and as a fiduciary officer at Fidelity's Trust Company.
Attorney Abbott is an active member of the Boston Estate Planning Council, Wealth Counsel, and NAELA, She was rated a Five Star Wealth Manager by Boston Magazine from 2010-2017.
Attorney Abbott has helped many high net worth individuals and families handle a wide range of estate planning needs during her 16-year career, including the creation of revocable trusts, life insurance trusts, gifting trusts, inheritor's trusts, and IRA retirement plan trusts. She has significant experience planning for families with retirement assets, and planning gifting strategies for high net worth families along with managing complex issues related to trust splits, grantor or beneficiary deaths, and trust terminations.
In her short time with us, Julia has already become a valuable member of the SSB Team. We look forward to our clients getting to know Julia and know they will enjoy working with her as we do.
These articles are not intended to provide legal advice or create or imply an attorney-client relationship. No information contained herein is a substitute for a personal consultation with an attorney
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Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC, 858 Washington Street, Suite 202, Dedham, Massachusetts
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