Tom Mullen Attorney MA
I’m Attorney Thomas R. Mullen of Quincy, and this blog will use my parents’ story and their use of an irrevocable trust to illustrate how a trust can save a lifetime of savings.
When we were younger my folks went out to eat once a week at Walsh’s restaurant in North Quincy. When that went out of business they discovered the flavor of Finian’s restaurant in Quincy Center. The way my parents’ eating habits worked shows how parents can transfer (give away) their assets and place them into an irrevocable trust.
As the aging process occurs, although they may not openly admit it, the elderly use less and less of their savings. I used to tell clients my office was in Quincy, next to the Strand Theatre and opposite Montillios Bakery; both gone now, as is Finian’s restaurant which was also in Quincy Center. So why is a restaurant(now gone) like a trust?
My parents would eat dinner–supper they called it, at Finian’s in Quincy once a week. As they got older they went to Finian’s for the “Early Bird Special”…before 6 p.m. Then as they aged more, they would split one meal between them. Finally, in their later years, they split one half between them and asked the waitress to pack the other half to go. So, why was eating at Finian’s restaurant like a trust?
Tom Mullen Attorney Quincy MA
For a trust to work in Medicaid planning(MassHealth) it has to be irrevocable…You place your savings into the trust–you let someone else control it—your “good” son or daughter. You receive only the interest and you never see the principal again–it’s locked up in the trust! Boy, did that go over great with my dad–John Mullen of Quincy! So, while they were spending less and less as they aged, the idea of giving away their hard-earned lifetime of savings was just not in their mind set.
Finally I said to my father: “You sent us all to state colleges (I commuted from Quincy to Boston State College), except for Joe (the youngest). You sent him to Boston College (dad graduated from B.C. under the G.I.Bill just a few years before we moved to Quincy).” I saw my opening–I then said “Joe will turn over to you the new passbook savings accounts which now will be in the name of the Mullen Family Trust; you can place the passbooks in your bureau drawer. That way if your favorite son is going to steal your money, he’ll have to sneak into your bedroom to do it. ”
With that kind of persuasion and reminding them how even their eating habits at their favorite Quincy restaurant had changed, we were able to convince them over the years to put more and more of their savings into an irrevocable trust.
Tom Mullen Attorney
When my mother ultimately had to live her final years in a nursing home, all their savings had been protected and they claimed their rightfully deserving Medicaid(MassHealth) benefits.
If someone you know needs a trust, please call Thomas R Mullen of Quincy, your experienced elderlaw attorney, —-I want to help!!
