My legal education was devoted to estate planning and taxation. During law school I received an estate planning certificate of completion upon graduation and I then went on to receive an LL.M (legal master) in taxation. Afterward, I clerked for the US Tax Court in Washington, DC. My private practice has similarly been devoted to trusts and estates law, elder law, taxation, and probate/trust administration. For me, it's a passion and nothing brings me more satisfaction than helping clients develop their estate plans.
While most of my clients need general estate planning documents, such as Wills, Trusts (both Revocable and Irrevocable), Powers of Attorney, and Health Care Directives (Proxies), I also assist clients on a routine basis with Medicaid planning, with an emphasis on Wills with Supplemental Needs Trusts provisions and Irrevocable Real Estate Trusts. I also assist clients with sophisticated estate planning where estate taxes are an issue.
I practice with my spouse, attorney Mary Kathryn Brennan, and together we have developed a law firm that strives to provide informed and compassionate care. To us, that means that our practice adheres to checklists and systems to ensure that every step of our practice is meaningfully regulated. It also means that we regularly take time out to examine what we do and how we do it and are always looking for ways to improve, innovate, and learn.
As a law firm, we strive to be compassionate and less transactional by providing estate planning clients with home service options when needed, an affordable annual wellness update service option, a monthly and yearly newsletter and being there for them when times are difficult. We take an interest in the well-being of our clients and try to make ourselves available over and above what one might expect from an attorney. In the broadest sense, compassionate legal care means serving clients the way that they would hope for and providing them with the means to stay informed.
- University of Washington School of Law
- LL.M. | Taxation
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- University of Oregon School of Law
- J.D. (2000) | law
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- Honors: Order of The Coif
- Activities: Estate Planning Certificate of Completion and Pro Bono Certificate of Completion
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- Attorney/Owner
- Brennan & Rogers, PLLC
- - Current
- Our firm is focused on elder law, estate planning (Wills & Trusts), and Probate/Trust administration. Our daily practice involves both pre-crisis Medicaid planning and crisis Medicaid planning, drafting Trusts (both revocable and irrevocable), Wills, Powers of Attorney, Health Care Directives, Deeds, and assisting clients with guardianships, conservatorships, probates, and trust administration.
- Estate Planning, Probate and Tax Attorney
- York Law, LLC
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- Estate Planning, Probate and Tax Attorney
- Bergen & Parkinson, LLC
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- Estate Planning, Probate and Tax Attorney
- Yates, Cambell & Yates (now Yates, Campbell & Hoeg, LLP)
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- Attorney Advisor to the Honorable Carolyn P. Chiechi
- United States Tax Court
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- Life Settlements: Legal Rights and Opportunities for Insurance Policy Owners (by Chris Orestis with Special thanks to Smilie Gregg Rogers, Esq. for contributing to this article)
- Published July, 2009: New York State Bar Association Elder Law Journal
- Basic Estate and Probate Planning, Basic Estate and Probate Planning, Portland, Maine
- NBI
- Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts ("GRATS"); Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTS); and Health Care Directives, Top Ten Estate Planning Techniques, Portland, Maine
- NBI
- Basic Estate Planning, Basic Estate Planning Issues For Grandparents, Portland, Maine
- NBI
- Funding formulas for trusts; tax return compliance issues; fiduciary compliance topics, Sophisticated Probate Techniques, Portland, Maine
- NBI
- Advance Health Care Directives, Qualifed Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTS) and Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATS), Top Ten Estate Planning Techniques, Portland, Maine
- NBI
- Paul Harris Fellow - Honorary Award
- KennebunkRotary
- LL.M (Taxation)
- University of Washington School of Law
- This is an additional degree (a legal master) rather than an award.
- Estate Planning Certificate of Completion
- University Of Oregon School Of Law
- Order of the Coif
- University Of Oregon School Of Law
- Maine State Bar # 004023
- Member
- Current
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- Maine
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- Massachusetts
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- New Hampshire
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- Washington
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- Credit Cards Accepted
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Rates, Retainers and Additional Information
Our firm charges a flat fee for most initial consultations. Most initial estate planning documents are also billed on a flat fee.
- Estate Planning
- Guardianship & Conservatorship Estate Administration, Health Care Directives, Trusts, Wills
- Elder Law
- Probate
- Probate Administration, Probate Litigation, Will Contests
- Tax Law
- Estate Tax Planning, Tax Planning
- English: Spoken, Written
- Q. My father gave me and my sister his house before he died do we have to pay capital gains if we sell it
- A: Property transferred by gift usually require the recipient to use the Donor's income tax basis. That carryover basis results in the preservation of built in capital gains. Had your father devised the property to you and your sister at death, you likely would have received a basis reflecting the properties then fair market value. Whether or not you now have to pay capital gains on the sale depends on 1) your carryover basis; 2) the amount of capital improvements made; 3) the amount you realize on the sale and 4) the property's ownership/use history since it was given to you. If the property has been owned and used as a principal residence, some or all of the gain might be avoided. Your question is not a complex one but requires further analysis based on your specific facts.
- Q. Can an heir with "power of attorney" take the property and assets of bank accounts legally before death?
- A: If the power of attorney is effective (powers are sometimes conditioned on events (such as a determination of lack of capacity) and are not therefore always immediately effective) and the principal did not communicate any revocation of the agent's powers to the agent, then it is likely that the agent, even if they are otherwise a potential heir of the principal's estate, could exercise a power to remover assets from a bank account.