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Estate planning matters
Legal matters like writing a will and asset distribution after a death can be overwhelming and confusing for people. Jennifer Deland of Deland Law Office in Holliston, MA, and her small team help individuals navigate the complexities of estate planning. Attorney Deland founded her law practice in 2008 and offers estate planning with trusts, including irrevocable trusts for asset protection and Medicaid planning, probate and estate administration, conservatorship, trust administration, powers of attorney and medical advance directives and applications for Medicaid for Long Term Care. Attorney Deland’s approach to estate planning emphasizes personalized guidance and thorough preparation.
As a law student, the attorney realized her passion for estate planning, and it stuck. “Estate planning is the sweet spot for me,” Counselor Deland said. After graduating from law school, she gained experience working for several law firms. "I didn't have any capital, so I couldn't really start my own business." A stroke of luck enabled Attorney Deland to begin one. “I lucked into getting some money that I could use to start a practice and rent an office. I got started, and now I'm established.” Currently, Deland Law Office employs lawyer Kenneth C. Collinson, III and an assistant. “It's still a very small office, but it's working.”
Essentially, estate planning is creating a plan for managing and distributing a person’s assets after they pass away or becomes incapacitated. It can help individuals protect and transfer their assets to chosen beneficiaries, plan for care of minor children, and make decisions about their healthcare and financial matters in the event of incapacitation.
Attorney Deland’s expertise encompasses a range of services that meet her client’s unique needs. She assists individuals in setting up trusts, ensuring proper asset ownership, and developing comprehensive estate plans to minimize the need for probate. Deland explained, "If you want your estate plan to work, you should have a trust. And if you want your trust to work, your trust should own the things that you want it to handle."
In addition, Attorney Deland offered insight into what happens when there is no estate plan. “The state has a plan for you, and somebody has to go to the court and basically volunteer to be the personal representative for your estate. And then, they have to figure out who your relatives are and who is entitled to get stuff and what stuff there is. And I've had people bring me a box of mail that's been coming in, and we go through it and try and figure out, okay, what accounts are there? The trick about doing trust work is that you want to get that done ahead of time—while the person is still alive and they can tell you what this stuff is. But if we have to do it afterwards, we do that too. That's called probate.” The Counselor noted that Attorney Collinson handles many of her office’s complicated probate matters, and clients are quite fond of him and his work.
When Attorney Deland begins working with a new client, the first thing they do is complete healthcare documents. “Everybody should have a healthcare proxy. I do a list of people who can get access to your information. I call that a HIPAA release. And I also ask people to give some general guidance to their healthcare proxy person about how to make decisions for them,” the lawyer said.
The attorney’s goal is to simplify legal matters for her clients, ensuring they have a clear understanding of the process and their options so that they can make informed decisions with confidence. "I help people get their ducks in a row."
Attorney Deland also advocates for her clients in challenging situations. The lawyer reassures her clients that she will handle any difficulties. Deland shared an example. “I have a client who is kind of being bullied by somebody who's involved in the care of their parent. I was able to assure her that we would take care of this, and I would deal with the person, and we will not have any problems because my approach to dealing with people is very straightforward. I don't feed into people being angry. It’s just natural for me not to do that. I say, let's look at this from a rational point of view. And I can help people even when they are upset. I can help them to see through it and get to a place where they can make a reasonable decision. So, it's very cool. I like my job.”
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