In a year marked by distance, we want to thank our staff and clients for adapting to and embracing the digital technologies that have allowed us to stay close and continue to serve you. It has been wonderful to be able to "see" our clients' smiling faces via Zoom, and we want to thank you for your emails, notes, and phone calls of support as we navigated the new waters of cyber space. We would also like to take a moment to remember the clients and friends we have lost this past year. You will live on in our thoughts and memories and you are dearly missed.

Spring has arrived and with it a renewed sense of joy and hope for a better year ahead. We are feeling extremely optimistic that clients will be back in the office in the coming months. And have no fear, we will not let our guard down prematurely. We will continue to take every precaution necessary to protect the health and well-being of our staff and clients. Zoom video meetings and curb-side signings will continue for the foreseeable future. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our office for our latest COVID protocols.

As many of you know, there have been some personnel changes at SSB in recent months and we are delighted to welcome our new Attorney, Frank Mulé; Administrative Assistant, Victoria Ung; paralegal, Celine Ramsingh; Legal Assistant, Michael Ives, and Assistant Law Office Administrator, Marcy Kadlec. You can read more about our new team members in the What's New at Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC segment of the newsletter.

French writer, Luc de Clapiers, once penned "Patience is the art of hoping." Well, Monsieur de Clapiers, we hope that the Massachusetts Probate Courts find a solution for the bottleneck that is trying everyone's patience. For more information on the delays that may be affecting your loved one's estate, please see the article Delays Continue at the Probate Courts.

This quarter's Smart Counsel Series, "Estate Planning and Elder Law 101," held on April 22nd, was a fun mix of Q&A and estate planning trivia. Kudos to all of our participants for doing such a great job. Here are a few of the brain teasers: Should you have an Irrevocable Trust? When you're in your 70s, should you put your house in your children’s names? What is probate and why do you want to avoid it? How much you can gift to your children and the implications of doing so? Think you know the answers? Click on the link above to find out.

Thankfully here in Massachusetts, we are seeing a decline in COVID-19 cases. Hopefully, this trend will continue. However, sadly there are still many individuals who are becoming infected with COVID-19 and dying from complications due to the virus or other reasons. Whether a loved one’s passing is expected or unexpected, managing their affairs can be difficult to think about when struggling with the grief of your loss. “What do I do now?” may be a question that you have to ask yourself. Here are five steps to guide you on what to do soon after a loved one’s death, in no particular order:

Hopefully, your loved one showed you where they keep important documents like their Will, income tax returns, financial account statements, and bills that are regularly paid. This information will be necessary for the proper services and administration of the deceased’s estate. Locate a safe but easily accessible place where you can store this information as you will refer to and use it often. Do not throw away any financial records or legal documents until you know you will not need them for tax filings, asset valuation, or other purposes.

 (3) Secure Property of the Estate

(4) Contact an Estate Planning and Administration Attorney

Keep in mind that the administration of an estate typically takes at least one year so you may want to take the tortoise’s point of view – slow and steady wins the race.

Attorney Abigail Poole is a lawyer with the Dedham law firm of Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC which focuses on advising its clients in the areas of estate planning, estate settlement and elder law matters. Attorney Poole is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Women’s Bar Association Massachusetts Chapter, the Massachusetts Bar Association, and the Massachusetts Forum of Estate Planning Attorneys. This article is 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. For more information visit our website at www.ssbllc.com or call 781/461-1020.

Beyond the issues created by COVID-19, there are county-specific issues that are exacerbating these delays. In Norfolk County, for example, the long-serving Register of Probate was elected Sheriff this past November, and the new Register is, understandably, still learning the ropes. Meanwhile, Middlesex County not only split its Probate Court into two divisions last spring, but its southern division also moved from its long-time home in Cambridge to Woburn last fall and it unexpectedly lost one of its most experienced staff members around the same time.

As you can imagine, all of these factors combined have led to extreme backlogs at several courthouses such that even the processing of routine, uncontested cases can take weeks, if not months. While you can rest assured that we are diligently pursuing every avenue possible to ensure that our probate cases are processed in as expeditious a manner as possible, ultimately it will take time for the courts to work through these backlogs.

Q:    Can I disinherit my child? 

A:    Parents often joke about disinheriting their children, but this is a question we get more frequently than you would think (and not because COVID quarantining in close quarters with their children has driven the parent to it). Disinheriting a child arises in cases where a parent and child have become estranged – sometimes because of a specific event, sometimes not. In more fortunate circumstances, sometimes the parent and child are on good terms, but the child has sufficient wealth that the parent wants to leave their assets to their other children. 

Regardless of the circumstances, the answer is yes, a parent can disinherit their child. Put another way, the law does not require a parent to leave their assets to their children at their death. The only person the law protects in this regard is your spouse. If you disinherit your spouse, your spouse has the right to claim a certain share of the assets in your estate or in your revocable trust if they wish to do so. But if you have no spouse and you wish to leave all of your assets to the New England Wild Flower Society rather than your kids, there is nothing to stop you from doing so.

When your property is titled in a Revocable Trust (or in a Nominee or Realty Trust which names you or your Revocable Trusts as the beneficiary) there is no impact on your estate plan to remove and then re-convey the property to the Trust. Note that this is NOT the case for property held in an IRREVOCABLE Trust. 

Legal Assistant, Victoria Ung joined Samuel, Sayward & Baler in February 2021. As the receptionist and legal assistant, Victoria interacts with clients on a daily basis. Victoria provides additional support to the firm’s paralegal team and attorneys, handles changes/updates to client files and disseminates all client correspondence. Victoria recently graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a B.A. in Legal Studies and Political Science. Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her Pitbull named Delilah, hiking and gardening.

Michael Ives joined SSB this spring. Michael is a veteran of the United States Army and brings a wealth of corporate experience to the firm. Michael is an avid runner and has run several marathons around the country. When not in the office or running Michael loves to spend time with his wife, daughter and new puppy Ollie.

Marcy Kadlec joined the firm this spring. She has over 20 years of administrative/paralegal experience and will be scheduling appointments for clients, and assisting office staff with projects. Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her family, gardening, and cooking.

Paralegal Celine Ramsingh. Celine joined the SSB team just this month. Celine earned her Paralegal Studies degree from Bunker Hill Community College, and her Legal Studies & Advocacy degree from Southern New Hampshire University. Celine works closely with our Attorneys and Paralegal team to assist clients with their estate plans. At home, Celine enjoys spending time with her Siberian Husky named Rex & her Red Eared Slider Turtle named Frankie.

The staff of SSB loves to have fun! Each quarter we all get together to enjoy each other's company and engage in some friendly competition. This quarter we held a TRIVIA AND TUNES night, hosted by the wonderful Vincent Pisacreta owner of Trivia and Tunes. It started out a little slow, being a Friday evening of a busy work week, but soon we were all in the groove, chair dancing and singing the hits of the last 4 decades. It was a pretty tight race until the last all-or-nothing-at-all question, where Team Baler emerged from the middle of the pack for the win! Congratulations to Attorney Baler and paralegals Janine Cronin (80s movie and music whiz) and Cait Fantegrossi. (Note: the image is missing some of our staff who did participate).