Probate and Estate Law
Helping My Clients Navigate The Maze:
Most people think that “probate” involves only the Probate of Wills or Administration of Estates and Will Contests. But Probate law also includes all of the following legal areas, in which I have been representing clients since 1982, primarily in the Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk County Probate and Family Courts:
- Appointment of Trustees, Guardians and Conservators of minors and incapacitated persons (formerly “incompetents”) to take charge of their financial affairs and day to day needs.
- “Removal Petitions” - It is sometimes necessary to file a petition with the Probate Court to remove a fiduciary (Trustee, Administrator, Executor or Conservator) who has failed to act properly in accordance with his or her duties.
- Disputes involving Partition of land held in common with others.
- “Equitable jurisdiction” of the Probate Court, which allows people to come to the court to get an injunction, a court order to stop someone from causing irreparable harm until a dispute can be resolved by the court.
- “Declaratory Relief” jurisdiction - this enables the court to interpret a legal document where family issues are involved. These include divorce agreements, trusts, and wills. “Do it yourself” wills and other legal documents, which can be obtained, can prove to be very expensive in the long run because they can cause pitfalls which have to be addressed later by the Probate Court. In my experience, these “do it yourself” kits can cause as much trouble as you would expect to get if you could buy a home dentistry or home surgery kit.
- “Reformation” of trusts, where an original trust document no meets the circumstances of the case, and the Probate Court must be petitioned to sort things out in the interests of fairness.
- Compromises of wills, where a reason exists to challenge a will and the parties agree to a resolution.
- Adoption matters.
ABOUT THE COMING REVOLUTION IN PROBATE:
The recent passage of the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code (with little public fanfare) means that a revolution in Probate Court practice is underway. The UPC will change the practice of Probate Law in many ways, and the first phase of the new law has taken effect already, applying to Guardianships and Conservatorships. In the next two years, the UPC will take effect in all matters of: Estates and Probate Administration. It is critical in these changing times to consult an experienced probate practitioner for advice on what to protect your interests from unintended consequences of the new laws.
HOW I CAN HELP YOU NAVIGATE THE MAZE OF PROBATE:
Here are some examples of cases where I’ve helped my clients achieve their goals in Probate and Estate Litigation:
- SUCCESSFUL REFORMATION OF A TRUST TO PROVIDE FOR THE BENEFIT OF A DISABLED MINOR:
A mother of two children needed to change the terms of her husband’s trust fund to provide a “special needs trust” for one of her children, who was disabled.
- SUCCESSFUL COMPROMISE OF A WILL:
I was able to obtain a compromise of a Will for the benefit of a daughter, on the grounds that her mother had been unfairly pressured by her brother into signing a Will that had effectively disinherited her.
- CLAIM AGAINST AN ESTATE FOR SERVICES RENDERED:
Successful settlement obtained for one child of a large family who had spent her own money improving the family home for years after the death of her parents, but had then been unfairly excluded from a sister’s Will.
- PROTECTED ELDERLY PARENT FROM “SPENDTHRIFT” RELATIVE:
I obtained appointment of my client as Guardian of his elderly parent, to protect the mother from the competing guardianship petition of another sibling, who wanted to raid the mother’s bank accounts.
- PROTECTED A CHILD FROM HAVING THE WRONG GUARDIAN APPOINTED:
Successfully represented a child’s aunt in Guardianship petition, over the objections of the biological father, who had not been active in the child’s life up to that point.
- OBTAINED INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE PROBATE COURT TO FIX A CONTROVERSY CAUSED BY A “DO-IT-YOURSELF” WILL KIT:
An elderly person with significant assets used a legal form service to do her own Will, with no understanding of the legal pitfalls in the document. After her will was probated, I successfully petitioned the Probate Court to issue instructions to settle a controversy that erupted between the heirs named in the Will, including a non-profit group.
- SUCCESSFULLY REPRESENTED HEIRS OF AN ESTATE AGAINST A “SELF-DEALING” EXECUTOR:
I secured a Probate Court Injunction against the Executor named in a Will who was “self-dealing” by co-mingling funds of the Estate, using the will property for the Executor’s own benefit, and concealing these facts from the heirs.
- OBTAINED COURT-ORDERED RELIEF FOR AN HEIR TO GET HER PORTION OF AN ESTATE INHERITANCE:
I used a “Petition to Partition Real Estate” to obtain a division of my client’s portion of real estate inherited from her grandmother, so that she could advance her education, where she had not inherited any liquid assets or money from the Will.
CALL FOR A FREE TELEPHONE CONSULTATION:
CALL FOR A FREE TELEPHONE CONSULTATION:
Toll Free: 888-271-2550
LaRosa/Toland Law Offices
Main Office: 3 Baldwin Green Common, Suite 207
Woburn, MA 01801-1869
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