Page 12 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, July 30, 2021 LETTER | FROM PAGE 1 https://cityofmalden.zoom. us/j/92509908732 Or One tap mobile: US: +16465189805,,92509908732# o r +19294362866,,92509908732# Or Telephone: Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 646 518 9805 or +1 929 436 2866 Webinar ID: 925 0990 8732 Our school leaders, faculty, staff, and central office staff all have my utmost respect. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been working incredibly hard to meet the needs of our students. They had to adapt and learn new things rapidly; using technology to bridge distances and deliver instruction online. To our students who, for multiple reasons, could not engage with us consistently during the past school year, we ask that you please come back to school in the fall. We need to work together to close learning and socio-emotional gaps that were created by the global pandemic. Students, your resilience during extremely unpredictable times showed, and you became stronger. Please carry on with this resilience with a warm heart, open mind, and a commitment to keep learning when you come back to school. Caregivers, please know that you are not alone. Let’s work together with our school leaders, social workers, guidance counselors, and partners to see how we can support you and our students. Partners, I am looking forward to engaging in dialogues to determine how we can collaborate to provide wrap-around services to our families and district staff. A community is stronger when we all share the same goals and move in the same direction. To our Mayor and Members of the School Committee, I know that trust, transparency, and accountability will be the blueprint of our work together. School leaders, I will be looking to work closely with you to continue building stronger relationships with our students, caregivers, staff and partners. Former superintendent John Oteri, thank you for your stewardship of Malden schools and for your helpful assistance to me as I take the reins of the district. It is going to be a wonderful start of a new school year, where together we can strive to give our very best as members of this community of learners. I truly look forward to starting this journey with all of you. Sincerely, Ligia Noriega-Murphy, Superintendent Malden Public Schools ~ LEGAL NOTICE ~ COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS THE TRIAL COURT PROBATE AND FAMILY COURT SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT RECENT CASE A BIG BOOST TO UPHOLDING WELL SETTLED TRUST LAW A July 23, 2021 decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) upheld well settled Trust law and now provides the elder bar with more certainty in drafting irrevocable trusts in the context of Medicaid planning. MassHealth’s legal department could not persuade the SJC that a special or limited power of appointment contained in the applicant’s irrevocable trust caused the trust principal to be countable thereby resulting in ineligibility for MassHealth benefits for the applicant. The SJC cited the Restatement (Third) of Property: Wills and Other Donative Transfers, Section 17.2 (2011) and many Superior Court and Appellate Court cases as grounds for its decision against MassHealth. The benefits of this SJC case for the elderly in Massachusetts are profound. MassHealth has over the last 10 years or so been attacking almost any provision contained in an irrevocable trust in order to deny MassHealth benefits, even though so many of its legal arguments have been in complete contradiction with well settled case law and statutory law. Itsarguments seemed to be more based upon its own ideology as to desired outcomes as opposed to them being based upon the actual law. In the case at hand, the applicant and her husband were the Settlors of an irrevocable trust. There was a provision in the trust granting the applicant, during her lifetime, a limited power of appointment to appoint all or any portion of the trust principal to a nonprofit or charitable organization over which she has no controlling interest. MassHealth argued that the applicant could appoint the trust principal to a nonprofit nursing home in order to pay for her nursing home care, and as a result, the entire principal of the trust was countable thereby making the applicant ineligible for MassHealth benefits. The SJC went on to state that since the applicant possessed a special or limited power of appointment, she could not appoint to an otherwise permissible beneficiary in any way that could benefit herself. As a matter of trust common law, statutory law and case law, a special or limited power of appointment, by definition, can never be utilized by the Donee of the power to benefit himself or herself in any way. After MassHealth appealed the Superior Court decision, the SJC took the case directly from the Superior Court thereby bypassing the Appeals Court altogether. The SJC also made it clear that a use and occupancy provision contained in an irrevocable trust likewise did not make the trust principal countable. The decision also made it clear that a trust instrument must be read as a whole in order to determine the Settlor’s intent when he or she executed the document. Trust provisions should not be read in isolation. Rather, they should be read in the context of reading the Trust instrument as a whole. Only then can you determine the Settlor’s intent when creating the Trust.This was an impactful opinion rendered by the SJC based upon excellent legal reasoning.Thank you to the Mass Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Mass Bar Association. A job well done. Joseph D. Cataldo is an Estate Planning/Elder Law Attorney, Certified Public Accountant, Certified Financial Planner, AICPA Personal Financial Specialist and holds a Master’s Degree in Taxation. Middlesex Probate and Family Court 10-U Commerce Way Woburn, MA 01801 (781) 865-4000 Docket No. MI21P3865EA Estate of: Elvira M. Ferro Date of Death: 11/14/2014 CITATION ON PETITION FOR FORMAL ADJUDICATION To all interested persons: A Petition for Late and Limited Formal Testacy and/or Appointment has been filed by Joseph A. Ferro of Bedford, MA requesting that the Court enter a formal Decree and Order and for such other relief as requested in the Petition. The Petitioner requests that: Joseph A. Ferro of Bedford, MA be appointed as Personal Representative(s) of said estate to serve Without Surety on the bond in unsupervised administration. IMPORTANT NOTICE You have the right to obtain a copy of the Petition from the Petitioner or at the Court. You have a right to object to this proceeding. To do so, you or your attorney must file a written appearance and objection at this Court before: 10:00 a.m. on the return day of 08/11/2021. This is NOT a hearing date, but a deadline by which you must file a written appearance and objection if you object to this proceeding. If you fail to file a timely written appearance and objection followed by an affidavit of objections within thirty (30) days of the return day, action may be taken without further notice to you. UNSUPERVISED ADMINISTRATION UNDER THE MASSACHUSETTS UNIFORM PROBATE CODE (MUPC) A Personal Representative appointed under the MUPC in an unsupervised administration is not required to file an inventory or annual accounts with the Court. Persons interested in the estate are entitled to notice regarding the administration directly from the Personal Representative and may petition the Court in any matter relating to the estate, including the distribution of assets and expenses of administration. WITNESS, Hon. Maureen H. Monks, First Justice of this Court. Date: July 27, 2021 TARA E. DECRISTOFARO REGISTER OF PROBATE July 30, 2021 SPORTS| FROM PAGE 10 nearly every GBL member. Only Everett High School would remain unchanged in the newest alignment proposal, with the appeal process upcoming which could change some other designations. Everett High School, with the largest school population in the GBL at this time, with 2,008 students overall, would remain in Division 1 for high school playoff purposes. Lynn Classical, with just under 1,800 students, would be reclassified as Division 1 from Division 3, where it now sits. Revere has requested a change to Division 3 from Division 4 under the new alignments. Lynn English is seeking to stay at Division 3 in the upcoming alignment, and Malden High School is seeking realignment from Division 1 to Division 3 for playoff purpose in the upcoming cycle. Medford, now Division 2, has appealed to be reclassified into Division 4. And Somerville, now classified in Division 5, would be moved to Division 3 under the new alignment proposal. All final alignments would be made after the appeal process and votes by the MIAA Football Committee and Board of Directors, among others. Greater Boston League well-represented at Bay State Games METRO Baseball The GBL was well-represented with five players in the recent Bay State Games Showcase Baseball Tournament. GBL All-Stars Shai Cohen of Malden High, a junior, and Owen Kelley and Sean MacGillivray, both All-Stars SPORTS | SEE PAGE 18
13 Publizr Home