Unfortunately, a significant percentage of people fail to have any sort of estate planning in place, forcing their families and beneficiaries to navigate the complexities of probate court in order to acquire the deceased person’s property. Probate is a long and costly process, but can often be entirely avoided through proper estate planning and trust
The recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) is a sweeping tax package. Here’s an overview of some of the more important business tax changes in the new law. Unless otherwise noted, the changes are effective for tax years beginning in 2018. Corporate tax rates reduced. One of the more significant new law provisions
On July 1, 2018, the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act (“MEPA”) will go into effect in the Commonwealth, requiring companies to ensure that they pay male and female workers equally for “comparable work.” On March 1, 2018, the Attorney General’s office issued guidelines aimed at clarifying certain provisions of the law. The below answers the most
“I’m delighted to announce that your child has been awarded a scholarship.” Music to your ears! Now some reality: Scholarships (and fellowships) are generally tax-free, whether for elementary or high school students, for college or graduate students, or for students at accredited vocational schools. It makes no difference whether the scholarship takes the form of
Today many people are using revocable living trusts as the foundation for their estate plans. When properly prepared, a living trust will avoid the public, costly, and time-consuming court process of conservatorship (due to incapacity) or probate (after death). Still, many people make a big mistake that sends their assets and loved ones right into
With the skyrocketing real estate values in Greater Boston the last few years, many owners of two, three and four family homes have thought about converting their properties into Condominium ownership so that they can legally sell off one or more units and maximize their total value from the properties. If you are thinking of
Imagine that a family member has just passed away and you know they have important information stored on the internet. It could be in the cloud, in their email, or on a social media account. How do you access this information? The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) recently decided the case Ajemian v. Yahoo!, Inc.,
Two prominent franchises were recently found in violation of the child labor laws by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. Burger King was found to have more than 800 child labor violations at stores across the state. Among the violations uncovered were minors working shifts that exceeded the total maximum daily hours allowed or shifts that
Restrictive covenants are, in a nutshell, private restrictions on the use of land. They are generally disfavored by state law, and developers must adhere to strict guidelines to protect their enforceability beyond a thirty-year period. Restrictive covenants typically arise during residential or commercial developments. Before selling off property, a developer could create restrictions governing certain
Commercial leases typically divvy up the costs for maintaining a building and property amongst the tenants. These costs are called common area maintenance expenses, CAM for short. Leases can be structured in many different ways, and the devil is in the details. Below are a few provisions to review closely to limit post-occupancy surprises. 1.