The Role of a Guardian Ad Litemin Domestic Relations Cases
On occasion, disputes occur between divorcing parents concerning the care of their children. When they do, the court may appoint an attorney to serve as a Guardian Ad Litem. Unlike an attorney who advocates a client’s position, the Guardian Ad Litem is required to investigate the issues identified by the court, determine what is in…
To Register or Not to Register: How Registering a Trademark Can Protect Your Good Name
How comfortable are you with conducting business under your corporate name? How comfortable are you with the names that you have given to your products and services? If you are the principal shareholder of a corporation conducting business in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you have presumably filed your corporate name with the Secretary of State’s…
Can Your Brother-in-Law Do It? Trustee Selection
The keystone to any well thought out estate plan for married individuals is reciprocal revocable trusts. They are sometimes called “credit shelter” trusts because one of their functions is to shelter each grantor’s unified credit (currently $1.5 million) from taxation in the estate of the second-to-die. They are sometimes called “A/B” trusts because they typically…
Self-Employment Taxes on Flow-Through Earnings: The S-Corporation vs. LLC or Limited Partnership
The tax law governing the imposition of self-employment taxes on the flow-through income of S-corporations and LLC’s/limited partnerships continues to evolve. Historically, net earnings from self-employment have included net income derived by an individual from his/her trade or business, an individual’s distributive share of a partnership’s trade or business net income, and guaranteed payments to…
Using Qualified Special Needs Trusts To Protect Assets When A Parent or Grandparent Enters A Nursing Home
The greatest fear that parents of special needs children have is what is going to happen to their child or grandchild with special needs when the parent or grandparent dies? Due to their concern, many parents or grandparents include a special needs trust into their estate plan that provides funds to provide for goods and…
Zoning Update: Is Your Lot“Grandfathered” or Just Old?
It is no secret that during the past few years, the value of a parcel of real estate suitable for single family home development in Massachusetts has increased at a pace which is unparalleled in modern history. The demand for new residential housing has continued unabated, largely due to reasonable mortgage interest rates. Shortages in…
Considering Converting Your Multifamily House to Condominiums?
Every time the housing market booms, owners or purchasers of multifamily houses contemplate whether they should keep the steady stream of rental income or if they can make more money by converting the property into condominium units and selling the units individually. We saw this in the 1980s and in the early 2000s, and it’s…
My Adult Child is Getting Divorced, So Why Am I Being Asked About My Assets?
When their child is getting divorced, most parents are appalled to learn that the state of Massachusetts, unlike other states, allows the court to consider the future inheritance of a divorcing spouse when determining how to divide the marital estate. Although a future expectancy of an inheritance is not divisible in a divorce, “the opportunity…
Condominiums 101
Condominiums are peculiar “creatures.” They are often thought of as a lifestyle choice, but they are actually a special legal form of property ownership under which an individual purchases and owns a unit in a multi-unit complex. What follows is a legal explanation of what a residential condominium is, how it functions, and some of…