News & Events

Multi-site Breakfast Meeting
Topic: Your Aging Estate and Medicaid Planning Clients Living in the Community: Support from the Local Aging Services Access Points, Area Agencies on Aging, and Elder Protective Services
Time: 8:30 - 10:00 a.m.
Location:
Country Club of Halifax, 100 Country Club Dr., Halifax, MA
Holiday Inn, 265 Lakeside Ave., Marlborough, MA
The Hotel Northampton, 36 King St., Northampton, MA
Holiday Inn, One Newbury St. (Rte. 1 Northbound), Peabody, MA

Speakers:
Halifax: Phil Murphy, Esq., Site Coordinator/Moderator, Dorothy A. Slack, R.N., Old Colony Elder Services, Brockton, MA, S.H.I.N.E.
Counselor and Clinical Director, Amy Jorud, MSW, LCSW, Coordinator of Clinical Development for Aging and Disabled Services, of South Shore Elder Services, Inc., Braintree, MA and Kate Granigan, MSW, LCSW, CASWCM, Overlook C.A.R.E., LLC, Hingham, MA
Marlboro: Daniel Tremblay, Esq., Site Coordinator/Moderator, Maura Moxley, Healthy Aging Program Manager, BayPath Elder Services, Inc., Marlborough, MA, Eileen O’Brien, Director of Information Referrals, Central Mass. Agency on Aging, West Boylston, MA, Mary Parenteau, Protective Services Program Manager, Elder Services of Worcester, Worcester, MA, and Sally Kaitz, MSW, LCSW, CASWCM, Kaitz & Siegel, Framingham, MA
Northampton: Paula Almgren, Esq., Site Coordinator/Moderator, Deborah Hollingworth, LSW, Geriatric Resources Advisor, S.H.I.N.E. Counselor, Greater Springfield Senior Services, Inc., Springfield, MA, Amy Goodrich, Protective Services Programs Manager, Elder Services of Berkshire County, Inc., Pittsfield, MA, Jill Lebar, MA, LMHC, CMC, Creative Alliances, Inc., Williamstown, MA
Peabody: Patrick Curley, Esq., Site Coordinator/Moderator, Kathy-Elise Learned, Caregiver Support Specialist, Mystic Valley Elder Services, Brian T. McDonald, Manager, Protective Services/Elders at Risk, Mystic Valley Elder Services, Sharyn Russell, MSW, LICSW, CASWCM, Andover, MA

Program Summary: Nursing home admissions are declining. Chronic care at home is becoming the norm. Knowing the options for clients is more important than ever. Do you know the services your local ASAP, AAA and EPS offer – beyond MassHealth? What programs and benefits are available? Who can apply? How does the attorney initiate the referral process? How are fees and payment determined? How does MassHealth fit in, if at all? When does Elder Protective Services come into play? Can a Geriatric Care Manager help? This program is designed for people doing or wanting to do more work with elders living in the community, or those who want to recognize the red flags to know when to point their clients in a different direction. The program is geared toward attorneys, geriatric care managers, and others working with seniors and their caregivers.

The Annual Multi-Site Breakfast is open to MassNAELA members as well as non-members. Additionally, members of the New England Chapter of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers may register at the member rate! If you are not a member of National NAELA and the Massachusetts Chapter, and are a licensed attorney or law student, consider joining now. For membership information, visit our website www.MassNAELA.org and click on "Become a Member." If you are not a member of the New England Chapter of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers, visit their website www.GCMNewEngland.org and click on "How to Join GCMNE".

Directions to The Hotels

Pre-Dinner Program Summary: The new State Regulations for the Protection of Personal Information (201 CMR 17) are the strictest in the country and were specifically drafted to affect businesses of all sizes – from solo practitioners to public corporations. In a no-nonsense manner, Frank Vincentelli with IT Solutions in Waltham will discuss how these regulations affect small to midsize businesses and the most common areas of risk (from both technology and business perspectives). The presentation will provide a roadmap to compliance and will include practical advice on implementing the technologies mentioned by the Regulations (such as encryption and strong authentication) easily and cost-effectively.

Program Summary: As MassNAELA members, we work very hard to help our clients plan for MassHealth eligibility and apply for and be approved to receive MassHealth benefits. This program will take you through the steps you should take, and the issues you may encounter, after your client has been approved for MassHealth benefits. The speakers will review immediate post-approval steps that should be taken, such as advising clients regarding the patient paid amount, health insurance payments, prescription coverage issues, re-titling assets, and planning for the community spouse. The program will also include a review of typical matters that arise while a client is receiving MassHealth benefits, such as responding to MassHealth's annual review request, managing rental property, and distributions from pooled trust accounts. Events that may disrupt MassHealth eligibility will also be discussed, such as an inheritance or the sale of real estate. Finally, the program will review matters that may need to be addressed when a MassHealth recipient passes away, including releasing lifetime liens on real estate and the steps that must be taken to respond to an estate recovery claim.

Speakers:
James R. Loughman, a graduate of Amherst College and the University of Virginia School of Law, James R. Loughman is an associate in the North Adams office of Donovan & O'Connor, LLP. There he splits his time more or less evenly between estate/Medicaid planning and probate matters on the one hand, and civil litigation and appeals on the other. Jim has been a member of MassNAELA since 2002.

Liane Zeitz practices law in Dedham, MA and has over twenty three years of experience concentrating in elder and disability law including MassHealth, health care and estate planning, guardianship, nursing home issues and probate law. Prior to entering private practice, Ms. Zeitz worked for as a staff attorney in the elder law units of Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) and the Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts (LACCM). Attorney Zeitz is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Boston University School of Law.

Margaret A. Hoag is "of counsel" at Eckel, Morgan & O'Connor and concentrates her practice in the area of Elder Law. She received her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College and her J.D., cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School. Margaret is the co-author of Massachusetts Elder Law, and has authored and co-authored several articles for American Jurisprudence. She was a member of the Concord Council on Aging for 7 years and remains active as the coordinator of the Volunteer Lawyers Program, which she founded. She is also a long time board member of the Liberty Alzheimer's Partnership.

Directions to The Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston

Pre-Dinner Program Summary: Last month we gave you a taste of the usefulness of the MassNAELA website. If you had questions we didn't have time to get to, this pre-dinner program is for you! We'll access the site during this session and walk you through logging in and searching for topics of interest. We'll also show you how to find fellow colleagues, and the other resources available to you. Bring your questions, and we'll get them answered.

Program Summary: It's time to honor and applaud our own, bring the new officers and directors on board (pun intended), meet the National NAELA President Elect, Ruth Phelps, and generally have a good old fashioned fun time. Who will be Member of the Year? Who will be honored as Legislator of the Year? Who will be named the Arthur Stavisky recipient? You'll have to be there to find out, or read about it in the paper the next day.

National NAELA President Elect, Ruth Phelps, CELA will be our keynote speaker. She will update us on the future of NAELA, as well as its focus on estate tax and healthcare reform. Susan Levin and Deborah Thomson will also update us on the goings on at Beacon Hill, budget cuts and legislative initiatives.

Directions to The Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston

Veteran's Benefits 101
What You Need to Know About Aid and Attendance - Suffolk University Law School

Veteran Administration benefits are crucial to long term care planning if you are counseling someone in the community. Veterans or widows/ers of deceased veterans must know if they are eligible for Veterans benefits under the Aid & Attendance (A&A) program. The A&A benefit helps clients afford to live at home with caregivers, including family members who might have to give up their jobs to provide care, as well as to offset the high cost of assisted living facilities. Because the VA eligibility rules are somewhat similar, but differ in some important ways from Medicaid eligibility rules, proper counseling can prevent clients from unknowingly creating disqualifications for later Medicaid eligibility. This program will discuss methods to incorporate a discussion of possible VA benefit program eligibility when advising and counseling clients and their families about available governmental benefits. Attorneys may be paid for counseling clients about VA benefits just as they may be paid for Medicaid and long term care planning. In addition, VA rules allow payment for legal fees for services rendered after an initial VA decision has been made on an application.

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Location: Heritage at Framingham
747 Water Street, Framingham, MA 01701

Rights of Nursing Home Residents: Legalities and Realities
Presenters: Rebecca J. Benson, Esq.
Margolis & Bloom

Emily Saltz, LICSW, CMC
Elder Resources

Creating Family Care Contracts: The Legal & Care Management components
Presenters: Emily Star, CELA
Ciota, Starr & Vander Linden, LLP

Deborah Liss Fins, LICSW, CMC
Deborah Fins Associates, PC

This is a FREE event to members and will fill up fast! Space is limited.

As part of the Chapter's new, ongoing Litigation Initiative, MassNAELA will conduct a full day workshop session on effective litigation strategies to respond to MassHealth post-Deficit Reduction Act policies and procedures.

It will cover issues MassNAELA members need to know in advance of preparing applications, anticipating issues/problems, avoiding hearings, preparing for and advocating at the unavoidable "unfair" hearing, post-hearing-decision administrative strategies, litigating G.L. c. 30A complaints for judicial review, pleadings, motions, briefs, court procedures and appearances, filing for attorneys' fees after success, and Appeals Court procedures.

MassNAELA's first Litigation Training Workshop will provide attendees with the tools to respond to the egregious decisions and actions of MassHealth in this post Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) environment.  The program will teach those MassNAELA members who choose to take advantage of this opportunity the most effective way to address situations involving transfers of assets and violations of due process. Attendees will learn the best practices for preparing the application, filing the administrative appeal and seeking judicial review.

The morning session will cover such topics as:

• the prism of issues and potential problems
• collecting information from client and other sources
• application and related forms
• information to supplement the application
• filing the application – when, where and how
• what to do when the application is denied
• the appeal process; preparing for the hearing
• post denial -- administrative actions

The afternoon session will cover:

• filing and serving a complaint for judicial review, G.L. c. 30A
• pleadings and procedures
• motions and supporting memoranda
• attorneys' fees
• Appeals court procedures

Lunch will be a working open-topic questions and answers session. Time permitting, there will be a mock appeal hearing and a mock court motion hearing.  

Speakers:
William J. Brisk, Esq.  Bill, a former President of the Massachusetts Chapter of NAELA, NAELA Fellow and a Certified Elder Law Attorney, practices in Newton on all aspects of elder law including litigation. He co-authored the recent second edition of Massachusetts Elder Law (Lexis Publications). His publications include law review articles on guardianship, ethics, and Medicaid. He teaches a course on End of Life at Suffolk University Law School.

John J. Ford, Esq. John J. Ford has been the director of the elder law project at Neighborhood Legal Services in Lynn since 1977. In addition to being a past president of MANAELA (1999), he is a former president of the Board of the South Boston Community Health Center, is a member of the advisory committee of the Alzheimer's Association of Massachusetts, and of the advisory committee of the paralegal program of the North Shore Community College. He is a member of the board of the Massachusetts Guardianship Association and its former president. He is the chairman emeritus of the Elderly Legal Coalition, a statewide advocacy group. He is a graduate of Boston University and B.U. School of Law.

Carol Cioe Klyman, Esq. Carol is a shareholder of Shatz, Schwartz & Fentin, P.C. in Springfield and Northampton, Mass., who concentrates her practice in the areas of elder law, estate planning, special needs planning, estate settlement, guardianships, and trust and estates litigation.  Attorney Klyman is a contributing author of the three-volume treatise, "Estate Planning for the Aged or Incapacitated Client in Massachusetts," (MCLE, 1998), considered one of the leading publications in the field.

Please photocopy the registration information and submit a separate form for each registrant.

Directions to Heritage at Framingham

Dinner and Board Meeting - October 22, 2009
Time: Pre-Dinner Program 5:00 p.m.; Program 6:00 p.m.
Location: Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston; 70 Third Ave., Waltham, MA
Topic: The Uniform Probate Code in Action
Speakers: Mark A. Leahy, Esq.; Benjamin F. Harley, Esq.

Pre-Dinner Program Summary: Practical Social Media Strategies for Small to Medium Sized Law Offices. This is an intermediate level presentation, focusing less on the nuts of bolts of social media and more on actually using popular social media applications and strategies to promote and grow your practice. Local social media expert, Laura Briere, CEO & founder of Vision Omnimedia, LLC in Worcester, will be presenting. Can't seem to find the time to implement a proper social media campaign? She's got a solution for you there too. In this economy where we all have to make tough decisions on where to spend our advertising dollars, why not get an even bigger bang for your buck (or free!) with a virtual marketing campaign?

Program Summary: Four months after the Guardianship provisions of the law took effect, what's different? What's the same? What's on the horizon for July, 2011?

Learn how to navigate the guardianship and conservatorship process in this program featuring Attorney Mark Leahy, the reporter for the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code drafting committee, and Manager Benjamin Harley, Esq., a judicial case manager who has been appointed by the Governor to serve on the MUPC Estate Working Group, and the Article V Working Group.

Speakers:
Mark A. Leahy is the Reporter for the Joint MBA/BBA Committee on the Uniform Probate Code and a draftsman of the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code. A member of MassNAELA, he is an attorney practicing in Hingham. A graduate of Middlebury College, Suffolk University Law School (JD) and Boston University School of Law (LLM), he has practiced probate, trust and estate law since 1979. Mark is also a member of the Massachusetts Guardianship Association, the former Mass. Bar Association Probate Section Council, and a frequent lecturer on probate reform, estate planning and settlement of estates.

Benjamin F. Harley is the judicial case manager at the Plymouth Division of the Probate and Family Court. He was first appointed to the court as an assistant register in 1981. Mr. Harley graduated from Stonehill College in 1971 and from New England School of Law in 1974. Prior to his court appointment he was in private practice in Jamaica Plain and Brockton, concentrating in probate, estate, and family law matters. He is a frequent speaker on probate law practice and procedure. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Plymouth County Bar Association.

Directions to The Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston

12th Annual Northeast Elder Law Symposium
Sponsored with the Massachusetts Chapter of NAELA

Location: Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont St., Boston, MA
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Dinner and Board Meeting
Time: Pre-Dinner Program 5:00 p.m.; Program 6:00 p.m.
Location: Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston; 70 Third Ave., Waltham, MA
Topic: Impact of Doherty on Irrevocable Trust Planning
Speakers: Robert Gorfinkle, Esq., Ian Oppenheim, Esq., Emily Starr, Esq., and Mark Worthington, Esq.

Pre-Dinner Program Summary: Caregiver Homes is a Massachusetts state-licensed, community-based alternative to nursing home placement and is sponsored through MassHealth. Here’s how it works: The caregiver lives with their family member or loved one and is responsible for his or her care. Caregiver Homes will pay the caregiver for providing that care and provide them with the nursing and care management support they need to care for that person. Our presentation will help you to understand who can be a client and caregiver, what the caregiver does, and how the process of joining our program works from start to finish.

Program Summary: Drafting trusts in a post-Doherty world: provisions to exclude, powers to keep, assets and transactions, what to do about trusts that you've already drafted, and what we might expect from MassHealth given the decision. Attend this program to learn what you should be doing or changing in light of the decision.

Speakers
Robert A. Gorfinkle, Esq. is a graduate of Boston University and Boston College Law School. Bob also received an LL.M. degree in taxation from New York University Law School.  Bob is past President of the Chapter, past President of the Norfolk and Plymouth Estate and Business Planning Council, and a former adjunct professor at Boston College Law School.

Ian S. Oppenheim, Esq. is the managing partner of Oppenheim & Cole, LLP in Halifax, Massachusetts.  He has earned the title of Certified Elder Law Attorney and has been honored as a NAELA Fellow by the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.  He is a past president of the Chapter and received its "Outstanding Chapter Member" award in 2007.  Mr. Oppenheim serves as an adjunct professor in the LL.M. program at Western New England College School of Law.  Mr. Oppenheim serves on NELF's Board of Directors and is also a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Plymouth District Bar Association and the Plymouth County Bar Association of which he is a Past President.

Emily S. Starr, Esq. is a partner in the Fitchburg and Worcester law firm of Ciota, Starr & Vander Linden LLP. She is a member of the Special Needs Alliance and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.  She has previously served on the Board of NAELA which awarded her the honor of Fellow. She is certified as an Elder Law Attorney. She has chaired the Boards of both Elder Home Care Services of Worcester Area, Inc. and the Chapter. She currently chairs the Guardianship Committee of Jewish Family Service of Worcester and the Ethics Committee of Briarwood Continuing Care Retirement Community and is on the Board of Editors of the NAELA Journal. Ms. Starr received the annual Award for Community Service by the Theresa Foundation in May of 2007 and in January of 2009 the Scholar Mentor Award by MCLE. She has been included in The Best Lawyers in America and Boston's Best Lawyers for the past three years and named a "Super Lawyer" annually since 2005.

Directions to The Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston

The Real Meaning of Doherty
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Location: GoToMeeting.com - Webinar
Speaker: Tracey A. Ingle, Esq.

This interim summer webinar will take a close look at the proceedings leading up to the Doherty decision, dissect the decision, and get you ready for the MassNAELA September dinner program: Irrevocable Trusts in a Post-Doherty World.

This webinar will NOT answer questions about how to draft irrevocable trusts now, what to do with trusts you've already drafted, or discuss retained powers, and specific trust language.