Joel's Library

Or, how he spent the pandemic year

(organizing information to help you learn)

Oil painting by Bennett H. Horowitz, long-time friend of Joel. Joel seeks to give his own legal work the same painstaking attention that the artist does. Original in Woodstock, NY.

Estate Planning Concerns

Living Trusts: Pros and cons

How to lower Massachusetts estate taxes

Irrevocable Trusts - Good for what?

Living Trust facts

Your loved one has a problem - What should you do in YOUR estate plan?

What does a durable power of attorney do for you?

More about estate planning

After-Death Issues

After a death, get help, be calm, follow a process

More about after-death concerns

What is probate?

Contest a will?

Why after-death issues are confusing

Choosing a Lawyer

How we work

Our different approach

Plain English estate planning

Reviewing Current Documents

What to look for in older documents

How to get your first estate plan or update an older one

Want to improve your own estate planning for your family?

Learn more at 7 Questions to Test the Strength of Your Estate Plan

Massachusetts Wills & Trusts

33 Bedford Street, Suite 13, Lexington, MA 02420
(781) 863-8606 | joel@jbernsteinlaw.com

Wills ∙ Trusts ∙ Power of Attorney ∙ Health Care Proxies

Locations We Serve

Most middle-aged people aren’t ready for their inevitable death. We make estate planning simple, affordable, and quick. So people can live in peace, knowing their affairs are in order.

EXISTING CLIENTS: Amendments/Discussions

"Let me outline in general the process we follow to avoid making inadvertent errors to your existing estate planning:

Find Your Plan: First, we need to find and look at the estate plan documents we made for you before.
Review Your Plan: Check the documents to see what parts you want to change.
List Changes & Trust Review: Think about what's different in your life now or what you want to change in your plan. If a trust is involved, let's discuss the funding of your trust and whether it's adequate to meet your goals.
Discuss Changes: In our meeting, we'll talk about what you want to change, including any adjustments to your trust and its funding.
Make Drafts: We'll write up the changes to your plan.
Check Drafts: You'll look at the drafts and tell us if anything else needs to change.
Sign New Plan: After you're happy with the changes, you'll sign the new documents.
Copy for File: We'll make a copy of the signed documents for our files.
Refile Documents: We'll refile the updated documents with your other important documents.

By following these steps, we ensure careful consideration and precision in updating your estate plan, minimizing the risk of errors and ensuring alignment with your current needs and goals."

The material is provided for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. This Alert may constitute attorney advertising and is not intended to communicate with anyone in a jurisdiction where such an Alert fails to comply with all laws and ethical rules of the jurisdiction.