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The Shore Law Firm Elder Law - Estate Planning - Creditor Rights

Call (508) 226-4400 or Contact Us

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Planning Ahead is Planning for Life

  • Welcome
  • Who We Are
    • Attorney & Staff Bios
    • Why Choose Us?
    • Elder Law Services & Fees FAQs
    • Creditors’ Rights Services & Fees FAQs
    • The Shore Law Firm Charity Initiative
  • What We Do
    • Overview of Practice Areas
    • Elder Law
    • Estate Planning
    • Estate and Trust Administration
    • Creditors’ Rights
    • Success Stories
  • Resources & Helpful Links
    • Directions to our Office
    • Firm Forms / Intake Procedure
    • Elder Law Q&A
    • Programs & Seminars
    • Read Our Blog
    • Newsletter
    • Community Resources
    • Local Support Groups
  • For Our Professional Colleagues
  • Contact Us

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Practice Areas

  • Overview
  • Elder Law & Long Term Care Planning
  • Medicaid Crisis & Advance Planning
  • Estate Planning
  • Disability Planning
  • Special Needs Planning
  • Estate and Trust Administration
  • Creditors’ Rights
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Testimonials

“We both feel that you did an excellent job in explaining to us the various options which are available as we seek to find the best plan for us.”

Robert & Rita B.
Long Term Care Planning Clients

“I think you have some idea of how much support you provided, for me especially, over these past several years. You were far more than our “elder care lawyer.” Your helpfulness and understanding gave me a lot of courage and helped me/us do what needed to be done. Thank you so much.”

Linda L.
Daughter of Long Term Care Client

“I hired Deborah to facilitate the Medicaid application process for my Dad. She was extremely knowledgeable regarding Medicaid regulations, documentation needed, and the process. Deborah dealt directly with all questions and requests from the Mass Health office and kept me informed of any issues or progress. Knowing that I had Deborah’s expertise during what was a stressful time, was a great relief.”

Ellen H.
Daughter of Medicaid Client

“I recently worked with Deborah to assist a family member with estate and long term care planning. Deborah’s practice is focused on these areas which are highly complex and ever-changing. She does a great job breaking down the complexities and explaining the options available. I confidently recommend Deb for her expertise in these areas.”

Jim C.
CPA, Professional Colleague

  • View all testimonials

Elder Law Services & Fees FAQs

How is an elder law attorney different from a regular estate planning attorney?

Traditional estate planning is focused on estate tax planning and on what happens after you die. Elder law planning is focused first on what happens while you are still alive, helping you to plan for future incapacity and long term care needs, as well as providing for your loved ones upon your death. Elder law attorneys must have comprehensive knowledge of Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, probate, real estate, and tax law, much of which is constantly subject to change. But we also must be excellent listeners and educators and social workers as we help our clients navigate the complex challenges of aging. Elder law attorneys bring to the table their extensive networks of professionals in the financial and health care worlds to help us guide our elder and disabled clients to the best solutions to address their many needs. The short answer is that the practices of nearly all elder law attorneys include estate planning, but the practices of nearly all estate planning attorneys do not include elder law. There are over 50,000 currently practicing attorneys in the Commonwealth; only a little more than 500 of us in the entire state concentrate our practices in elder law!

I already have a Will, Durable Power of Attorney, and Health Care Proxy. Shouldn’t I be all set?

The classic lawyer answer is: “It depends.” If your documents were prepared less than 3-5 years ago by an attorney concentrating in elder law and there have been absolutely no changes in your family, health, or financial situation, then you are probably in good shape. But if, like most people we see, your documents are old, the drafting attorney was a traditional estate planner or general practitioner, and/or your situation has changed in some way since you signed the documents, it is time for you to schedule an appointment with an elder law attorney to view your existing plan. So often, we review the existing documents of clients who believed they were all set and discover that the documents do not in fact cover all of the bases needed in order to plan for the client’s long term care needs. It is so much better (and less traumatic and costly) for us to be able to identify problems and revise an existing plan when things are calm, than to identify problems when you are in the throes of a medical or financial crisis. A few hours spent being proactive can give you peace of mind knowing that you are prepared for any crisis that may come your way.

I am taking care of my aging/ill wife (or husband or mother or father or aunt or uncle or grandparent) and I am overwhelmed. I need help figuring out how to keep her safe, how to find the best care, and how to pay for everything that she needs. Can you help?

Absolutely!

A large part of our practice is counseling caregivers about all of the many options for care, facilitating access to care, and accessing government benefit programs to help pay for care. We will review any existing estate planning documents that your loved one has in place, and will help you understand your responsibilities and powers and how the plan works (or doesn’t work). We will recommend changes to the plan if necessary. We will review past and present finances to determine how financial resources can be maximized, with an eye to enabling your loved one to remain as independent as possible for as long as possible. We will help your loved one become eligible for financial assistance to cover the often devastating costs of long term care services. We will bring in to our planning team the expertise of professionals in the health care and financial worlds as needed to ensure that your loved one gets the best possible care. We will be your loved one’s advocate and advisor so you are free to focus on caregiving. And, we will make sure that you are connected with resources to help you take care of yourself as well.

The nursing home has offered to help prepare my loved one’s MassHealth application. Shouldn’t I just let them? Or, can’t we just do the application ourselves? Why should we hire you for this work when you are going to charge me more than the nursing home’s people will (and more than if we just did the application ourselves)?

While we appreciate and respect your wish to pay no more than necessary, this is one area where being “penny wise” can end up being “pound foolish.” Losing out on even one month of nursing home coverage because you didn’t do the application just right and MassHealth denies your application can cost you $10,000 or more in private payments to the nursing home. The MassHealth system is complex and convoluted and MassHealth’s ever-changing positions on all kinds of issues is sometimes mystifying even to those of us who do this work for a living. Applying for Community or Long Term MassHealth can be a cumbersome process. The MassHealth caseworkers and the nursing home representatives are not lawyers and by law are not allowed to give you legal advice about how to preserve and protect your home, your other assets, and your family members. As attorneys, we are your legal advocates in this protracted process, using estate and long term care planning strategies to protect not only the patient but also the spouse (and children) remaining at home.

Based on our knowledge of the breadth of Medicaid law as elder law attorneys, we can help a patient navigate the MassHealth system and become eligible for benefits at the soonest possible date, can help to preserve assets and ensure that funds will be available for a community spouse, can prepare and facilitate the approval of a MassHealth application, can handle any appeal necessary to obtain benefits, and can counsel about strategies to protect any remaining assets from “estate recovery” down the line. We are proud to be able to say that our clients have never been denied benefits due to a failure to provide required verifications, and all of our clients’ applications have been approved either by the caseworker or on appeal.

I have never been to a lawyer (or, the only time I ever met with a lawyer was when I did my first Will, or bought my house a long, long time ago). I am really nervous about our meeting and worried that I won’t understand everything. How do I know that The Shore Law Firm is the right place for me?

We completely understand that you may be under a huge amount of stress and that you are worried about many things, especially if you are caring for a loved one with a serious illness. We also appreciate that some lawyers appear very formal and intimidating. We definitely are not. We want you to be comfortable and we strive to offer a relaxed and compassionate experience for our clients in a warm and welcoming environment. We pride ourselves in speaking plain English rather than “lawyer-ese”, and in helping you to “get” complex and challenging concepts. The son of one of our clients recently exclaimed at an initial consult: “I just learned more from you in 20 minutes than we did from our former attorney after three meetings!”

What happens when I call your Firm to make an appointment?

When you call our office, you will first speak with our legal assistant who will ask you some background questions about your situation, family, and finances and then book an initial consultation appointment approximately two weeks out from the time you call. Of course, if you or a loved one are in the midst of a medical or financial crisis and need immediate help, we will do our best to get you in ASAP so we can get to work right away on addressing the crisis. If necessary, one of our attorneys will follow up that discussion with a short complimentary telephone consultation to explore the scope of your issues more fully. We will then send you an introductory letter and an intake form which we ask you to complete and return before your appointment. To prepare for our meeting, we carefully review your form before you come in.

Sometimes we can tell from the information you share during the intake interview that your legal needs are outside of our areas of expertise. Since we have a large network of attorney colleagues, we will do our best to get you connected to other legal professionals who can better address your issues.

The intake form seems long. Why do you need all of this information?

First, be assured that any information you provide on the form and in any of our discussions is held in the strictest of confidence. The intake form gives us an introduction about who is who in your family, what assets you own (and don’t own), how you own them, and an estimated total value. Exact dollar amounts are not necessary at this stage; ballpark estimates are fine. All of this information allows us to prepare for our initial meeting and to focus our discussion on the planning strategies that will best address your particular situation. And, by providing this information ahead of time, we can use our meeting time to get right down to a substantive discussion rather than taking part of our time together to collect phone numbers and zip codes, or talking about things that are not applicable to you and your family.

What happens at the initial consultation?

You should plan for our Initial Consultation to last approximately one and a half hours. Because each of us has done “homework” to prepare for the meeting, we are able to hit the ground running and our meeting is a substantive work session. During our meeting, we will discuss in depth your family, health and finances. We will listen carefully to your concerns and the goals you are seeking to achieve. We will explain complex concepts using plain talk and clear examples, and will help you truly understand the legal strategies that will best help you achieve the quality of life and care that you desire for yourself and your loved ones. In most cases, by the end of our meeting, we are able to recommend a comprehensive plan that addresses your unique circumstances and goals. If we are unable to decide together on a specific course of action because we need more in-depth examination of multiple strategies, we will follow up the initial meeting with a comprehensive planning letter and then have a second meeting for follow up discussions and decisions. We will take as much time as needed for you to be comfortable with your planning choices.

How do you charge for your services?

We provide nearly all of our Elder Law and Estate Planning services on an all-inclusive “flat fee” basis, with the actual fee charged to each client determined by the scope and nature of the work to be done rather than by time. There are no hidden fees, and no hourly charges. We do not want you ever to hesitate to ask questions or to feel any pressure to sign your planning documents because you are worried about being charged for a phone call or email or extra meeting. By paying one fee – and only one fee – we can both focus on results rather than bills.

If you retain us to represent you on an Elder Law or Estate Planning matter, our initial consultation will be just the first of several meetings and there is no separate charge. In recognition of the depth and scope of our initial consultation, and the time and expertise we have invested in preparing for and conducting the meeting, if there is no work to be done beyond the initial consultation, or if you are not yet ready to move forward with a plan, the fee for our consultation time will be $400 ($500 if you have an existing trust), payable at the conclusion of the session. If you retain us within forty five days of our initial meeting, we will credit the consultation fee against your total fee for services. As incentive for you to act on what you have learned, we typically waive the consultation fee if you have recently attended one of our educational programs but then decide not to proceed with planning.

Where appropriate, we offer reduced fees to our clients who have very limited income or assets.

Because cases involving the courts are not completely under our control, we do handle Estate & Trust Administration, Guardianship / Conservatorship, and Creditors’ Rights cases, including the initial consultation, on an hourly basis plus costs, usually charged against a retainer which we will agree upon during our initial consultation. Our current hourly rate is $315 for our attorneys, and $100 for our legal assistant.

Every case is different, and our advice is always customized based on the special family, health, and financial circumstances presented by each client. Because there is no “one size fits all,” we cannot quote fees on the phone. We are not trying to be coy, but feel that we are doing both you and us a disservice by trying to guess what work you might need before we have fully analyzed your needs.

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News & Upcoming Events

THE TIMES THEY ARE A’CHANGIN’:
TSLF is Winding Down to Retirement
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When we started our elder law practice in 1999, 60s sounded old(ish) and far away from our own ages.  We accepted without question the notion that someone 62+ was an "elder" under the definitions of government assistance programs.  Fast forward a bunch of years and now that we are in our 60s ourselves, 60 doesn’t seem that old really at all.  What do you mean we are now "elders" ourselves??!!!  As we have gotten older, we have experienced with our own parents and families many of the challenges that we have counseled our clients about, and have juggled our caregiving...
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120 North Main St.
Suite 302
Attleboro, MA 02703

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Service Area

The Shore Law Firm provides elder law, disability and special needs planning, long term care planning including Medicaid planning and applications, asset preservation planning, estate planning for clients of all ages including young families, and estate and trust administration services for families throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and beyond.  While we welcome clients from farther away, we primarily represent clients throughout northern Bristol County  (Attleboro, Easton, Mansfield, North Attleboro, Norton, Rehoboth, Seekonk, Taunton, Raynham), southern Bristol County (Acushnet, Berkley, Dartmouth, Dighton, Fairhaven, Fall River, Freetown, New Bedford, Somerset, Swansea, Westport), southern Norfolk County (Bellingham, Foxboro, Franklin, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, Norwood, Plainville, Sharon, Walpole, Wrentham), Plymouth County (Abington, Bridgewater, Brockton, Carver, Duxbury, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Hanover, Hanson, Hingham, Hull, Kingston, Lakeville, Marion, Marshfield, Norwell, Pembroke), and Worcester County.

 

The Shore Law Firm provides creditors' rights representation for clients throughout the entire states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Recent Blog Posts
THE TIMES THEY ARE A’CHANGIN’:
TSLF is Winding Down to Retirement

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A MESSAGE TO OUR CLIENTS AND FRIENDS:
We are open and ready to help

Apr 2, 2020

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THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL

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Copyright © 2023 The Shore Law Firm.

The Shore Law Firm
  • Welcome
  • Who We Are
    ▲
    • Attorney & Staff Bios
    • Why Choose Us?
    • Elder Law Services & Fees FAQs
    • Creditors’ Rights Services & Fees FAQs
    • The Shore Law Firm Charity Initiative
  • What We Do
    ▼
    • Overview of Practice Areas
    • Elder Law
    • Estate Planning
    • Estate and Trust Administration
    • Creditors’ Rights
    • Success Stories
  • Resources & Helpful Links
    ▼
    • Directions to our Office
    • Firm Forms / Intake Procedure
    • Elder Law Q&A
    • Programs & Seminars
    • Read Our Blog
    • Newsletter
    • Community Resources
    • Local Support Groups
  • For Our Professional Colleagues
  • Contact Us
The Shore Law Firm
  • Welcome
  • Who We Are
    ▲
    • Attorney & Staff Bios
    • Why Choose Us?
    • Elder Law Services & Fees FAQs
    • Creditors’ Rights Services & Fees FAQs
    • The Shore Law Firm Charity Initiative
  • What We Do
    ▼
    • Overview of Practice Areas
    • Elder Law
    • Estate Planning
    • Estate and Trust Administration
    • Creditors’ Rights
    • Success Stories
  • Resources & Helpful Links
    ▼
    • Directions to our Office
    • Firm Forms / Intake Procedure
    • Elder Law Q&A
    • Programs & Seminars
    • Read Our Blog
    • Newsletter
    • Community Resources
    • Local Support Groups
  • For Our Professional Colleagues
  • Contact Us
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