THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, OCTObEr 2, 2026 Page 11 SOUNDS | FROM PAGE 10 of Veterans Park at the corner of Winter and Central Streets (not the Saugus Town Hall) to honor and remember all veterans on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, is underway. The Parson Roby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is sponsoring this event to honor all veterans, living or deceased, including those currently serving. American flags may be sponsored through the Parson Roby Chapter DAR at a cost of $5 each. The flags will be placed at Veterans Park prior to Nov. 11 and will wave throughout the week until Nov. 12 with your veteran’s name on the flag. Flags may be sponsored to honor a family member, friend, neighbor or employee who has served or is currently serving our country. The deadline to sponsor flags is Oct. 30. You may send a check ($5 per flag) made payable to Parson Roby Chapter along with the information of the veteran (Name/Rank/ Branch of Service/Years or War if known) and mail it to Treasurer, 27 Pearson St., Saugus, MA 01906. After 12 noon on Nov. 11, you can pick up your sponsored flag to either keep or put on a grave. “2021 was our first year sponsoring the Field of Flags and it has been a huge success. So many members of the community stopped by to thank us in remembering our veterans this way. There were over 140 flags sponsored with veteran’s names waving in the wind and we hope for many more veterans to be sponsored this year. All proceeds from the Veteran’s Field of Flags will support the Daughters of the American Revolution’s mission to preserve American history and secure Americans’ future through education and proDue on Sale Clause and Irrevocable Trusts P eople are often concerned about a lender exercising LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Longtime Saugus Town Counsel John Vasapoli had an appointment yesterday (Thursday, Oct. 1) at the Fairfield Inn and Waypoint Conference Center in New Bedford, where the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association was scheduled to present him with its prestigious President’s Award in recognition for his many years as a municipal counsel and for his contributions to municipal law and local government. Vasapoli, 74, has served as town counsel since 1981. He was born in Lynn and moved with his family to Saugus when he was three. Vasapolli got married and raised a family. His wife Linda, from Lynn, is a nurse. They have two sons: Joseph, 41, of Chelmsford, and David, 35, of Georgetown, who has worked nearly 10 years as an attorney for his father in the Saugus Law Office of Vasapolli & Ricciardelli. (Saugus Advocate file photo by Mark E. Vogler) moting patriotism. For more information on how to sponsor a flag or in joining the Parson Roby Chapter DAR, please email parsonroby.saugusdar@ gmail.com.” Saugus town-wide fall street sweeping begins Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree and the Department of Public Works announced that the Town’s annual fall street sweeping program will begin on Monday, Oct. 5, weather permitting. Sweepers will start in the area of North Saugus (Precincts 5 and 7) and work their way across Town, working from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The work will generally follow the schedule and order listed below: ● Week of Oct. 5: Precincts 7, 5, 3, 10 and 2. ● Week of Oct. 13: Precincts 2, 6 and 8. ● Week of Oct. 19: Precincts 1, 4 and 9 (and work not accomplished in precincts from previous weeks). Work will be performed on Town parking lots only on Columbus Day, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026 the “due on sale clause” contained in their mortgage allowing a lender to call in the note and force a refinance of the property at a much higher interest rate. So many people have been locked in at 2.75% to 3.75% mortgage rates and they certainly would not want to be paying today’s mortgage rates approximating 7.00%. When trying to protect your home from a nursing home, you may very well decide to transfer it to an irrevocable Trust to start the five-year look back period. Five years after the transfer, the home will be protected as it would not be considered a countable asset for MassHealth purposes. Under 12 U.S.C. Section 1701(j)-3(d)(8), a lender may not exercise a due on sale clause when a borrower transfers residential real estate (with fewer than 5 dwelling units) into an “intervivos” Trust where the borrower is and remains a beneficiary of the Trust and rights of occupancy do not change. An intervivos Trust is simply a Trust you create during your lifetime. An intervivos Trust can be revocable or irrevocable. Therefore, transferring your home into an irrevocable Trust should not lead to a lender exercising its due on sale provision. Your interest rate should be protected. We often will ask the lender to approve the transfer to the irrevocable Trust by providing the lender with a draft of the Trust. I have yet to see a lender exercise the due on sale clause when someone transferred the home to an irrevocable Trust when the home was encumbered by a mortgage. The Garn-St. Germain federal law passed in 1982 was designed to protect lenders by having federal law preempt State law that might have limited a lender’s right to exercise the due on sale clause. Subsequently, Congress enacted 12 U.S.C Section 1701j-3(d) which carved out 9 exceptions where lenders cannot exercise the due on sale clause. Exception number 8 applies to intervivos Trusts. So long as the Settlor of the irrevocable Trust (who is also the borrower on the original mortgage taken out), pursuant to the terms of the Trust, has the right of use, occupancy and possession of the real estate held in Trust and is the current income beneficiary, Section (d)(8) should protect against the due on sale clause as this is federal law. Consequently, you should not have to reserve a life estate on the deed to protect against the due on sale clause. The downside to reserving a life estate on the deed is that if the home is subsequently sold, the portion of the sale attributable to the life estate interest gets paid to the life tenant and is then back on the table as a countable asset for MassHealth eligibility purposes. You can always cite this federal statute to a loan officer as many will not be familiar with this law. Joseph D. Cataldo is an estate planning/elder law attorney, Certified Public Accountant, Certified Financial Planner, AICPA Personal Financial Specialist and holds a masters degree in taxation.
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