Life Becomes More Complicated, a column authored by Attorney Michael Hooker is a wealth of information. He covers everything from living wills to nursing home costs. We are happy to provide copies of his articles here.
When clients or the children contact me and say, “we are concerned about asset protection” I often ask “protection from what or from whom?” The answer is generally “the state” or “the nursing home.” In other words, they are trying to protect their savings from catastrophic health care costs.
In 2012 Massachusetts legislature revamped the laws and procedures for Probate Administration of Wills and Estates. Probate means passing the assets from a deceased person to his or her heirs and/or beneficiaries by way of a Will or intestacy. Intestacy means a person dying without a Will.
Estate planning: You need three basic documents: Will, Power of Attorney (POA) and Health Care Proxy (HCP).The POA is often more important than the Will. It gives power over your finances in the event you are disabled.
The older we get, the more obituaries we read of people our age, older or even younger. I am 58 years old and mortal. Death is inevitable for us all and is often preceded by disability.
