THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2025 Page 19 BHRC | FROM Page 17 tee work, research, constituent work and other matters that are important to their districts. Critics say that the Legislature does not meet regularly or long enough to debate and vote in public view on the thousands of pieces of legislation that have been fi led. They note that the infrequency and brief length of sessions are misguided and lead to irresponsible late-night sessions and a mad rush to act on dozens of bills in the days immediately preceding the end of an annual session. During the week of August 25-29, the House met for a total of 24 minutes and the Senate met for a total of 22 minutes. Mon. August 25 House 11:00 a.m. to 11:07 a.m. Senate 11:09 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. Tues. August 26 No House session No Senate session Wed. August 27 No House session No Senate session Thurs. August 28 House 11:00 a.m. to 11:17 a.m. Senate 11:09 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. Fri. August 29 No House session No Senate session. Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com Bob founded Beacon Hill Roll Call in 1975 and was inducted into the New England Newspaper and Press Association (NENPA) Hall of Fame in 2019. THE FOURNIER MASS SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT CASE T his July 23, 2021, decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) upheld well settled Trust law and has provided 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 benefi ts 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 benefi ts of this SJC case for the elderly in Massachusetts are profound. MassHealth had, for a period of about 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 had been in complete contradiction with well settled case law and statutory law. Its arguments had 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 Fournier case, 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 nonprofi t or charitable organization over which she has no controlling interest. MassHealth argued that the applicant could appoint the trust principal to a nonprofi t 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 benefi ts. The SJC went on to state that since the applicant possessed a special or limited power of appointment, she could not appoint an otherwise permissible benefi ciary in any way that could benefi t herself. As a matter of trust common law, statutory law and case law, a special or limited power of appointment, by defi nition, can never be utilized by the Donee of the power to benefi t 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. A provision in an irrevocable Trust providing for the Settlor to use, occupy and possess the underlying real estate is key to being able to claim a residential real estate tax exemption in a City or Town that provides for one, without the necessity of reserving a life estate in the deed going into the irrevocable Trust. A provision in an irrevocable Trust allowing for the Trustee to distribute principal to a class of benefi ciaries consisting of the descendants of the Settlor likewise would be upheld based upon the Fournier case reasoning, as the Settlor would not be able to benefi t from such a provision and would not, under any circumstances, have a right to receive any principal distributions. 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. REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS BUYER1 Abad, Glenda Garcia, Karen V Guzman, Sebastian Lo, Chia Morales, Sebastian Morell, Kay M Pentelute, Erika Portillo, Elsa L Reid, Alexander T Rivera, Amanda Santora, Kitikhun Sarpong, Swadwo Sring, Lisa Waldron, Luis L Jaramillo, Antiago M Hoyos, Andrea Morell, Christopher Pentelute, Bradley Portillo, Salvador A Zapata, Karol S Rivera, Orlando Mariot, Carmen D BUYER2 Abad, Ramon SELLER1 Billiken Investments LLC Giunta, Joseph T Vecchia Frank Est 133 Salem Development LLC Falzarano, Louis E Borges, Gregio A Broadsound Ii Nt Gil-Yepes, Carlos M Qu, Yanqi 133 Salem Development LLC 133 Salem Development LLC 133 Salem Development LLC Onorato, Colleen 133 Salem Development LLC Ryan, William L Gil-Barrera, Marua C Liu, Jinning SELLER2 Giunta, Anna M Vecchia 3rd, Frank M ADDRESS 56 Ambrose St 481 Revere St 11 Bixby St 133 Salem St #406 39 Ambrose St Revere Copyrighted material previously published in Banker & Tradesman/The Commercial Record, a weekly trade newspaper. It is reprinted with permission from the publisher, The Warren Group. For a searchable database of real estate transactions and property information visit: www.thewarrengroup.com DATE PRICE 08.15.25 860000 08.15.25 1205000 08.12.25 680000 08.14.25 429000 08.13.25 985000 360 Revere Beach Blvd #319 08.15.25 675000 166 Broadsound Ave 54 Tuckerman St 628 Malden St 133 Salem St #106 133 Salem St #312 133 Salem St #217 33 Ellerton St #1 133 Salem St #215 08.15.25 900000 08.12.25 620000 08.15.25 770000 08.13.25 335000 08.14.25 475000 08.15.25 439000 08.15.25 359000 08.14.25 429000
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