The Importance of Personalized Estate Planning: Be Cautious of Online Platforms
Estate planning is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your family and your future. A well-prepared plan ensures your assets go to the right people, avoids unnecessary legal complications, and provides peace of mind. Many people turn to online platforms for convenience, assuming a simple form will...
Navigating the Complexities of Estate Planning for Blended Families
Blended families bring love and connection, but planning for the future can raise difficult questions. You may want to support your spouse while ensuring children from a previous marriage receive their rightful inheritance. Without clear instructions, state laws could distribute your assets in ways you never intended. Family relationships and financial concerns...

Selling a House During the Probate Process
When a loved one passes away, life changes dramatically for those who are left behind to grieve. An added challenge is ensuring that the estate is properly settled during the probate process. Selling the decedent’s house or other real property may be a necessary step to ensure that estate assets are properly...

Is Probate Still Required If There Is a Surviving Spouse?
Probate is a court-supervised process that is required to settle many estates and ensure that creditors and heirs receive what is owed to them. However, probate does take time and can be expensive. Many individuals wonder if the process is required in a situation where one spouse survives the other’s passing....

The Elective Share: How Much Does the Spouse Get?
When it comes to estate planning, many people are surprised to learn that a spouse can’t be entirely disinherited under Massachusetts law. Whether you're the surviving spouse concerned about your rights or someone looking to limit your spouse's inheritance, it's important to understand the concept of the elective share. This legal...

Choosing Your Healthcare Proxy: Selecting the Right Person to Make Decisions
A healthcare proxy is a document that allows an individual to designate someone else to make medical decisions on their behalf in the event they are unable to do so for themselves. Together with other instruments like a living will (a/k/a advance directive) the healthcare proxy helps individuals preserve their medical autonomy...

What Do I Do When a Loved One Unexpectedly Passes Away?
The sudden passing of a loved one brings immense grief as surviving family members struggle to cope with the loss. Besides the heavy emotional toll that you must face, there are the financial and legal realities to which you must now adapt. The estate planning attorneys of LaFountain & Wollman P.C....

Updating Your Living Will: Reflecting Changing Circumstances
A living will, also known as an advance directive, informs health care providers about an individual’s wishes concerning end-of-life care. The living will is a powerful tool that helps ensure dignity and comfort in the event an individual is no longer able to communicate his or her medical preferences. However, there...

How to Be Appointed as Personal Representative of an Estate
The executor of an estate, known in Massachusetts as a personal representative, helps manage the estate of the deceased individual (the decedent). Becoming the personal representative is a significant but rewarding duty that allows an individual, often a surviving family member, to help carry out the decedent’s final wishes. It all begins...

Living Wills vs. Durable Powers of Attorney: Understanding the Differences
Most estate planning begins with a last will and testament, but this is only one of several instruments you will need. Two other essential documents are the living will and durable power of attorney. Both of these documents broadly concern situations in which a person is incapacitated. However, it’s important to understand...