Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro P.C.

On June 9, 2016 more than twenty women from varying professions including banking, public relations, elder care, financial services, business consulting and entrepreneurs joined Baker, Braverman & Barbardoro, P.C. attorneys Lisa Bond, Susan Molinari, Theresa Barbadoro Koppanati, Elizabeth Caruso and Brandi Cerasuolo for a night of networking, laughs and painting. The event was hosted at the firms Quincy office and the paintings were supervised by Clare Donoghue of the Traveling Art Party. We enjoyed snacks and refreshments as well as lively conversation as we tried our hand at seascapes.

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Lisa Bond, Esq. has been nominated for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Top Women of the Law. Each year Lawyers Weekly honors women attorneys who have made tremendous professional strides and that have demonstrated great accomplishments in the legal field. Attorney Bond has been a lawyer at Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro, P.C. a Quincy based law firm since 2002. She was promoted to partner in January 2016. Her practice includes civil litigation, family law and personal injury.

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Recently Theresa Barbadoro Koppanati, Esq was recognized as one of the Top Women Attorneys in Massachusetts by Boston Magazine. Attorney Barbadoro Koppanati has been an attorney at Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro, P.C., a Quincy based law firm, since 2010. Prior to joining the firm, she was a corporate associate at Latham & Watkins, LLP in London and an in-house counsel at Red Bull North America in Santa Monica, California. Attorney Barbadoro Koppanati advises clients in all areas of corporate law, including, asset purchases, contract negotiation, commercial finance, secured transactions, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures. She also counsels clients on corporate compliance and intellectual property matters.

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Recently, Elizabeth Caruso, a probate and elder law/estate planning attorney at Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro, P.C., a Quincy based law firm, presented on basic estate planning and asset protection to a group of senior citizens at the Stoughton Council on Aging as part of a Massachusetts Bar Association sponsored event for Elder Law Month.

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In late May of this year the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) has re-established the debt refinancing program consistent with the more well- known SBA 504 loan programs. The 504 loan program was historically only available to purchasers of commercial property. The debt refinancing program, while available several years ago, was temporary. The program, which expired in 2012, is has now been made permanent.

The benefit of SBA financing, and more specifically, debt refinancing, is that borrowers who are approved and funded have a fixed mortgage rate for 20 years. In today’s commercial loan market, it is very difficult to obtain fixed rate financing, and almost never for 20 years. Also, the interest rates which are set at funding have recently seen historic low rates. For June 2016, the 20 year rate was about 4.3%.

On May 18, 2016 the Department of Labor announced that it will publish a Final Rule updating the exemption of executive, administrative and professional employees from the minimum wage and overtime pay protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Final Rule updates the salary level required for exemptions to ensure that the Fair Labor Standards Act intended overtime protections are fully implemented and to make the exemption for executives, administrative and professional employees easier to understand and apply.

The focus of the Final Rule is primarily updating the salary and compensation levels needed for executive, administrative and professional employees to be exempt. Specifically, in part, the Final Rule:

In all divorce cases it is required that the parties each complete a Financial Statement. The Financial Statements are exchanged between the parties and filed with the Court. Financial Statements are signed under the pains and penalties of perjury, therefore itis imperative that the information contained on your financial statement be accurate and contain all the required information.. For example, if one party fails to include an asset in his/her Financial Statement, that asset is subject to division even after the Separation Agreement has been approved by the Court. It is important to distinguish who owns an asset listed on your Financial Statement; you only want to list the interest and dividends income produced by assets that you own. Where assets are jointly owned, you should include only one-half (½) of the dividend and interest income and make this indication on the Financial Statement.

Although Financial Statements are filed with the Court, they are impounded to protect your personal information; this means that access is limited to the parties, attorneys of record and the court. Your Financial Statement must include all of your income. If you are self-employed you must file a Schedule A to your Financial Statement. Much of the information needed from the Schedule A may be taken from your income tax returns; however some deductions on your income taxes are not deductions for purposes of your Financial Statement. For example, a depreciation deduction is appropriate for income tax purposes but not on your Financial Statement.

In addition to disclosing assets, parties must set forth their actual and anticipated expenses on their respective Financial Statements. It is not uncommon to have to estimate expenses particularly in cases where the other party was primarily responsible for the finances. It is important to make a footnote indicating that these expenses have in fact been estimated. Furthermore, reasonable anticipated expenses should be footnoted.

In a divorce matter, a Financial Statement is given great weight by the court in reviewing the assets and expenses of the parties, and therefore should be completed with great care and caution. Should you require assistance in the preparation of a Financial Statement you should contact the family law team at Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro, P.C. – Lisa Bond.

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In Memoriam

It is with great sadness that our firm mourns the passing of our colleague and friend Attorney Douglas C. Purdy

February 10, 1943 – May 25, 2016

Doug practiced law in Quincy for over 30 years with Serafini, Purdy, DiNardo & Wells and for the last eight years with Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro, P.C. He will be sadly missed by all that knew him.

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If you have failed to plan for your personal incapacity by designating an agent to act as your Attorney in Fact under a Durable Power of Attorney or as an Agent under a Health Care Proxy, the person who will make these personal decisions on your behalf will be determined not by you, but by a Judge in the Probate Court. Many people recognize the benefits of having their estate avoid the Probate Court upon death, but most people forget that it is equally important to avoid the Probate Court in the event of an illness or incapacity during their lifetime.

In the event that you are incapacitated or gravely ill such that you cannot make decisions for yourself and you do not have either a Heath Care Proxy or a Durable Power of Attorney , your spouse, child, sibling or a friend will have to petition the Probate Court to be named your Guardian and Conservator. There is also the possibility that the Probate Court will appoint someone that is unfamiliar with you and your needs, something that can happen without proper planning.

The Probate Court will appoint a Guardian who will be charged with the duty of making personal decisions on your behalf. Those decisions are very personal and include health care choices, personal care choices, and decisions for your long term medical care. In addition, the Probate Court will appoint a Conservator of your estate; this person will be charged with managing your finances. Both of these court appointed agents will be required to get permission from the Probate Court to take action on many matters, including matters involving your property. As a result, the Probate Court has an unnecessarily high level of control over your well-being and assets, which is also costly as the fees and costs from the Probate Court’s review will come from your assets.

To protect yourself in the event of incapacity and to ensure that decisions regarding your health care and finances will be made in your best interest by a friend or family member of your choosing, consult with a Probate attorney at Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro, P.C. to get your Health Care Proxy and Durable Power of Attorney drafted today. – Christopher Sullivan.

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