Eileen Y. Lee Breger

Helping a younger married couple choose a guardian and trustee 

A Boston-area married couple in their early 30s came to Eileen needing help with putting an estate plan in place shortly before the birth of their first child. The estate plan consisted of a family trust, and the couple had to decide on a Guardian and Trustee. Eileen noted, “The wife was an only child, so we spent a lot of time walking through their options. We discussed which family members and friends have values that align the most with their values and are able to take on the responsibility of these roles. They both looked to the husband’s brother as a good candidate for Trustee and Guardian.” Everything is signed and in place. 

Updating an estate plan with a special needs trust 

A married couple in their 60s wanted to update their estate plan for their three children, one of whom had developmental disabilities. “They were both educated professionals working in the Boston area,” Eileen explained, but their plan was outdated, did not minimize estate taxes and, perhaps more importantly, did not properly provide for the disabled child.” Eileen met with the couple to understand the family’s needs and recommended creating a lifetime special needs trust share to receive the disabled child’s inheritance and not interfere with that child’s eligibility for government benefits. She also worked with the couple’s financial advisor to ensure that additional life insurance was obtained to fund the child’s special needs trust after they pass. 

Implementation of incapacity planning 

An elderly client had a trust that provided for the lifetime management of assets in the event she became incapacitated. When the client lost capacity, Eileen helped to implement the incapacity provisions of her trust. During this same time, the client became vulnerable to influence from people who did not have her best interests at heart. Eileen took actions to protect the client and ensure that her chosen fiduciaries could manage her affairs during the last years of her life. 

Estate and Trust Administration 

When a person passes away, Eileen counsels fiduciaries with settling a loved one’s estate and administering long-term trusts: 

• Probate of a will, appointment of a Personal Representative of an estate, and sale of real estate 
• Preparation of estate tax filings 
• Advice with post-mortem tax planning, qualified retirement accounts, creditor issues, beneficiary distributions, closing of the estate and management of family trusts 

Other Representative Matters 

• Worked with client who had an irrevocable life insurance trust and identified a need to decant $2M life insurance policy to a new tax-compliant trust 
• Prepared irrevocable trust to receive client’s future inheritance while working harmoniously with client’s financial advisors 
• Worked with client to gift Cape Cod property to daughter and fund her revocable trust to avoid probate