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Practice Areas

ESTATE PLANNING

 

At the Law Office of Warren M. Yanoff, our Worcester, Massachusetts area practice encompasses a broad range of estate and business planning issues. Because many of these estate planning issues are related, we are able to provide comprehensive representation to our clients for wills, trusts, health care proxies and powers of attorney. We also provide more sophisticated planning techniques to assist in wealth transfer and estate tax minimization. This allows us to simplify the legal process for our clients by serving as the only place they will need to go for the majority of their estate and business planning needs. Contact us at 508-797-4755 or online to see how we can use our more than 30 years of legal experience to help with your estate and/or business plan.

 

Estate Planning: To ensure that you have control over how the assets you have acquired through years of hard work are distributed when you pass away, you should consider a variety of estate planning options. With more than 30 years of legal experience, our staff can help you determine which option is best for you and increase your understanding of things such as:

 

We charge a flat fee for any work we do with wills or trusts, so you will always know the cost of these services in advance.

Family Law

 

As a former social worker, Warren Yanoff knows that our clients going through family law situations experience a wide range of intense emotions. We make sure to give our clients personal attention, answer all of their questions and strive to create an environment that is as comforting as possible. By doing this, we try to make the legal process as stress free as possible, so that a discussion of your legal options does not add to an already anxiety-filled situation. Contact the Law Office of Warren M. Yanoff at 508-797-4755 or online to find out how we can use our more than 30 years of legal experience to help you.

Some of the family law issues we typically help our Massachusetts clients with include:

  • Divorce

  • Child support 

  • Alimony

  • Modification and Contempt

  • Guardianship and Conservatorship

  • Prenuptial and  postnuptial agreements

  • Same-sex divorce

  • Domestic partner agreements

  • Domestic partner separations

  • Adoption

  • Removal and relocation of minor children

  • Property division

  • High net worth divorce

  • Complex asset allocation (including small businesses)

  • Mediation

  • Appeals from probate judgments

  • Estate planning post-divorce

 

We not only assist clients with the issues listed above, but also with any other problems or questions that they have related to family law.

GUARDIANSHIP

 

When your loved ones are in need of care they can no longer provide for themselves, either personally or financially, your might consider obtaining a guardianship or conservatorship.  If there are children who need special protection or are unable to live with their parents, a guardianship may be necessary. To obtain either a conservatorship or guardianship in Massachusetts, you must go through a specific process in court. Navigating through this process and making sure that all of its requirements are met can be difficult. Having an experienced attorney guide you through the process can ensure that your loved ones will gain the protection of a legal guardian or conservator as soon as possible. Contact the Law Office of Warren M. Yanoff at 508-797-4755 or online for help from an experienced guardianship attorney.

 

Guardianships: These apply to both children and incapacitated adults. When you become someone else's legal guardian, you are able to make decisions related to the personal affairs of that person, such as living arrangements and health care decisions.

Conservatorships: These are very similar to guardianships, but deal with a person's finances. Many times, the person who is the legal guardian will also become the conservator, although this is not always the case. Conservatorships also apply to both incapacitated adults and children.

 

Guardianships and conservatorships relate not only to family law, but also to estate planning issues. Elder law is a complex area of law concerning Medicare and other government benefits. It also deals with structuring an elder's estate to maximize asset transfers and minimize taxes. Having a will, power of attorney and health care proxy can help you avoid a situation where a family member must obtain a guardianship or conservatorship. In many cases, having a properly drawn estate plan can avoid the necessity of probating the estate. This is important, because probate can be costly, time consuming and public.

 

 

ELDER LAW

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When you or a loved one needs help with elder law issues in the Worcester, Massachusetts area, it is important to seek help from an attorney who will take the time to listen to you and give advice based on your individual situation. Your unique circumstances should be assessed based on your wishes and desired outcomes, especially when drafting a will, creating a trust or creating a power of attorney. At the Law Office of Warren M. Yanoff, we do not apply a one-size-fits-all approach to every client. We give custom-tailored advice to our clients after carefully listening to their goals and wishes. To discuss your situation in detail, contact us at 508-797-4755 or online.

 

Through our more than 30 years of legal experience, we have found that the elder law issues our clients face encompass a wide range of topics. Some of the elder law issues that we frequently help our clients with include:

  • Trusts

  • Simple and complex wills  

  • Estate and trust administration

  • Business succession planning

  • Guardianships and conservatorships

  • Powers of attorney

  • Health care proxies

  • Medicaid planning

  • Medicaid trusts

As evidenced by the list above, elder law issues often overlap with the areas of family law and estate planning. Because our practice includes all of these areas of law, we are able to offer our clients comprehensive legal assistance for their elder law, estate planning and family law needs.

APPEALS

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When you find yourself on the losing side of a legal dispute, you may still have options. In the majority of situations, an appeal of an unfavorable verdict is possible. Appeals take a long time and require extensive preparation. Because of this, when you decide you want to pursue an appeal, you should have the assistance of an experienced attorney. Our appellate work has spanned more than 30 years of legal experience, and includes 15 published opinions in the Massachusetts appellate courts. To speak to an experienced appellate lawyer about your case, contact the Law Office of Warren M. Yanoff at 508-797-4755 or online.

Attorney Warren Yanoff has successfully appealed many clients' cases to both the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

Some things you should know about appeals include:

  • An appeal can take a long time. Many types of appeals take more than a year before the Appeals Court renders its decision.

  • Appealing your verdict does not mean that your case is simply being retried or that you get to introduce new evidence. There are many rules that govern what appellate courts can and cannot consider, so it is important to have the assistance of an attorney to help you understand the procedures appellate courts follow.

 

We assist our clients with both criminal and civil appeals. Civil appeals can include things such as a probate or divorce appeal. We always charge a flat fee for our appellate work — this allows you to know exactly how much your appeal will cost in advance. 


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