As discussed previously on this blog, it is important that, in addition to registering your organ donation wishes with the Massachusetts Donor Registry and Donate Life New England, you discuss your organ donation wishes with your family and friends so that your wishes are carried out. Well, for those of you on social media, doing so just got a little easier. Check out these articles about Facebook’s new organ donation project from Forbes.com and Slate.com and NPR.org.

As of May 1st, Facebook is allowing its members to share their organ donor status and share their reasons for becoming an organ donor. Additionally, if you are in the United States or the United Kingdom, once you tell Facebook that you are an organ donor, you are directed to online registries to formalize your status. Of course, you should continue through and complete the donation. However, simply stating that you wish to be an organ donor on your Facebook timeline sends a powerful message to the family members who will have to give final approval for the donations.

If you do wish to have your organs donated, take the time today to register with the donor registries, consider sharing your organ donor status on Facebook and, of course, engage your loved ones in a discussion about your wishes.

Every health care decision requires an understanding of the patient’s condition, and the benefits and burdens of the proposed treatment. Most people have strong feelings and beliefs about when and to what extent they would accept invasive or aggressive treatment. The decision is more difficult for patients who cannot understand or communicate their wishes, due to physical or mental incapacity. Still, the decision must be made.

If there is no one who can legally speak for the patient, the law requires that a guardian be appointed by the court. The court will authorize the guardian to make treatment decisions, sometimes adding instructions or limitations as to how the guardian may act. Guardianship can be a time-consuming and expensive procedure, but the court will expedite the process if there is a medical emergency.

A simple alternative to guardianship is a health care proxy. The person creating the proxy (“Principal”) appoints another person (“Agent”) to make medical and health-care decisions, if the Principal becomes unable to do so. The Principal can also designate an alternate Agent, in case the primary Agent is not available.  [Read more...]

Applicants for Medicaid, as administered by MassHealth here in Massachusetts, can only qualify for the program when they have sufficiently “spent down” their assets.  Many people are familiar with the rule that the applicant may have only $2,000 worth of countable assets at the time of the applicant, and that the spouse of the applicant may keep a larger amount of countable assets.  Last year, this amount, known as the community spouse resource allowance (“CSRA”) was $109,560.  As of January 1,2012, the CSRA has increased to $113,640.

There have also been increases in other allowances, such as the minimum and maximum monthly maintenance needs allowance and the community spouse monthly housing allowance.   For questions about Medicaid/MassHealth eligibility, or any other estate planning or elder law questions, contact one of the Massachusetts estate planning or elder law attorneys at the Franklin, Massachusetts law firm of Doherty, Ciechanowski, Dugan & Cannon, P.C.

By Attorney Jennifer Taddeo

In my experiences working with clients to create and implement their estate plans, we often spend time discussing issues that can not be addressed in their basic legal estate planning documents – their will, trust, health care proxy, durable power of attorney or declaration of homestead.  While I can not offer legal solutions to these concerns, I always seek to provide practical guidance.

One question that many people ask is how to communicate their wishes about organ donation – and how to make sure those wishes are honored.  As previously discussed on this blog, I encourage all clients to discuss their health care wishes with their families .   This is a perfect time to also discuss your beliefs about organ donation.  Would you want to be an organ donor?  Are there organs you would not want donated?  Your family should be able to answer these questions and understand your reasoning, so that, during a crisis, they could confidently make the decisions to put your wishes into action. [Read more...]

We have all read the articles – sad stories about families torn apart because loved ones disagree about what medical steps to take – or not take – at the end of life. In some cases, the ill person had no legal documents about his or her care. In others, documents exist, but family members disagree about what the person wanted. That is why I offer everyone the same advice: have the document, and then have the conversation.

Working with an attorney to prepare and execute a health care proxy means that there will be clear legal direction as to who is empowered to make medical decisions when you can not make them for yourself. Here in Massachusetts, you can only name one person to serve at a time, but you can provide a list of people so that there is always someone to step in. [Read more...]

Creditors have one year after death to collect on debts owed by the decedent. For example, if the decedent owed $10,000.00 on a credit card, the card-holder must file a claim within a year of death, or the debt will become uncollectable.

A creditor can file a request for relief from the one-year statute of limitations directly to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. If the Court decides that the claim has merit and that the creditor was not negligent in failing to file on time, it may allow the creditor to file a late claim.

This one-year statute does not apply to debts incurred after the person died, such as funeral services, post-death house repairs, or an obligation that was not due and payable until after the person died. [Read more...]

Many families ask me why they even need an estate plan.  Won’t their spouse simply receive all of their assets and be able to make all decisions?   What these families do not realize is that every person has an estate plan – but if they have not created one of their own, they have the one created for them by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Our great state has some strengths and some weaknesses, but I’m pretty sure I do not want it creating an estate plan for my family!

As the law currently stands, without a will, a surviving spouse does not automatically receive all assets when their spouse dies.  In fact, they may end up owning assets jointly with their children or, if there are not any children, with their in-laws.   No estate planning documents also mean a lack of direction about fiduciaries – who should be in control of the estate, the children, health care decisions, etc.  It also means that assets passed along are available to the creditors of the people who receive the assets, and may be subject to the oversight of the Probate Courts for years to come. [Read more...]