Guardianships & Conservatorships

Wilchins Cosentino & Novins is a mid-sized law firm purposefully designed to offer exceptional service and exceptional value to our clients. At WCN, we are large enough to have expertise in many law practices including family law, while small enough to deliver exceptional service through a personalized, concierge approach. We serve clients in Massachusetts with our primary office in Wellesley, MA and additional offices in Chelmsford and Boston.

Family law cases can involve complex collateral questions regarding taxes, trusts and estates and business entities, and family lawyers at small family law firms may not have ready access to trust and estate attorneys to assist and advise their clients on such questions. As a mid-sized law firm, we have these experienced attorneys available to collaborate, working together on our clients’ behalf at a value Boston-based firms cannot match.

Guardianships and Conservatorships

Guardianship or conservatorship proceedings may be required for persons who are physically incapacitated and/or mentally disabled and unable to conduct their own financial and/or personal affairs. There are also a number of situations where guardians are required to be appointed for children. Sometimes special procedures are required, such as for disputes over the proposed guardianship or conservatorship, the administration of antipsychotic medications as part of a treatment plan, or when extraordinary medical authority is needed.

The family law attorneys at Wilchins Cosentino & Novins are thorough advocates for our clients; preparing and following through to comply with all of the court-imposed forms, hearings, inventories, accountings and other requirements. With, and on behalf of, our clients we are accustomed to communicating with other professionals that may necessarily be involved in the guardianship or conservatorship process (such as medical doctors, mental health professionals, federal, state and local agencies and court-appointed guardians ad litem). If relevant, estate planning documents, such as trusts, durable powers of attorney and health care proxies are evaluated and incorporated into the process.

In addition to advising and counseling clients regarding a guardianship or conservatorship, in some circumstances our family lawyers are asked to serve as the guardian or conservator on a temporary or permanent basis. Our family law attorneys and paraprofessionals are part of the team that carefully undertakes the fiduciary responsibilities required of a guardian or conservator.