For the last several years, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been very aggressive in challenging various trusts created to protect assets in the event of the need for long-term care in a nursing home. Correira Law Inc. is one of the few law firms whose client’s trusts have faced this scrutiny and challenge but been whose transactions have been repeatedly upheld at administrative hearings, and in Superior Court and at the Appellate Court. In the Clark decision, a Superior Court Judge in Middlesex County upheld several trusts along with a mortgage and promissory note, and exercise of a power of appointment. In the Ferreira decision, an administrative hearing officer upheld several trusts and commercial annuities and provided in depth analyses and comment on the legal arguments provided by the law firm. Finally, in the Beliveau decision, an administrative hearing officer gave a detailed opinion in which it was determined that the retention of a special power of appointment in an irrevocable trust did not make the trust’s assets available to the grantors for MassHealth purposes.

Here is a reprint of an article published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly outlining the Clark decision. Read More

Here is a complete copy of the Ferreira decision Read More

Here is a complete copy of the Beliveau decision Read More