Denise N. Yurkofsky

Denise Yurkofsky is a seasoned and highly regarded trust and estates lawyer. Her practice is concentrated primarily in the areas of estate planning, including planning for family members with special needs, elder law, estate and trust administration, and probate. She has been certified as a Certified Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation since 2004.

Denise works with people of all ages to help them create an estate plan that is tailored to their needs. She prepares wills, durable powers of attorney, health care proxies, and living wills and trusts with a view to providing for young children or other dependents. Through her work, Denise helps clients minimize estate taxes, protect assets, and address special family situations. She also counsels parents, grandparents and other family members of persons with special needs on the impact of their estate plan on their loved one’s eligibility for public benefits and prepares supplemental needs trusts when appropriate.

Clients say that they appreciate the way Denise listens. Her listening skills combined with her empathy create a safe space for people to be open about deeply personal issues.

Denise experience includes:

• Working with clients of all ages to design an estate plan that provides for their families or friends and minimizes their potential estate tax liability.
• Working with clients with a debilitating chronic illness, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or ALS, who worry about the impact the illness will have on their family’s financial security and helping them navigate long term care planning and estate planning options.
• Providing advice to seniors and individuals with disabilities about government benefits.
• Advising clients on different ways to provide in their estate plan for people they care about who have certain issues, such as a problem marriage, creditor issues, an inability to manage money, or an inability to work and support themselves.
• Counseling clients who have children (minors or adults) with special needs, helping them anticipate their children’s unique needs, now and in the future, and developing an estate plan for them using a supplemental needs trust.
• Guiding clients who have experienced a death in the family and who are the Personal Representatives of the estate or Trustees of trusts established by the decedent and guiding them in carrying out the terms of the trust.

Active in the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Denise served on its Board of Directors for 15 years. She is also involved in the community and serves on the Board of Directors of the Wayland Council on Aging and volunteers at the Legal Clinic for the Sudbury Senior Center and the Wayland Senior Center. Denise previously served for six years on the Board of Directors of The Price Center, a Newton based human services agency that provides services to individuals and families managing a wide spectrum of physical and cognitive disabilities. She is a founder of the Friends of the Wayland Council on Aging and served on its Board of Directors for many years. Denise is also involved with social action programs through her synagogue and other volunteer groups.

Before Bowditch

Prior to joining the firm, Denise headed up her own private practice for 20 years helping clients with estate planning, special needs planning, elder law, estate and trust administration, and probate matters.

Besides Work

Denise enjoys an active family life with a supportive and fun husband, three wonderful children, two grandchildren and a third on the way. She loves to read, quilt, hike, kayak and sail her sunfish up in Maine.