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Carol concentrates her practice in the areas of elder law, estate planning, estate settlement, guardianships, and probate litigation.
She works with older individuals, the families of older individuals, and with clients of all ages concerned with financing nursing home and home care costs, planning for their families' financial well-being, providing a legacy for the future, and eliminating or minimizing estate taxes, drafts plans for clients facing nursing home care, prepares and files applications for MassHealth benefits, and represents clients before the Division of Medical Assistance administrative hearing officers and, deals with all aspects of estate administration, including probate petitions and accountings, preparation of estate tax and gift tax returns, and representation before the probate court. An emerging part of her practice is estate planning for individuals with disabilities, including filing petitions for guardianships, structuring settlements for personal injury proceeds, and drafting special needs trusts.
Education and Background
J. D., magna cum laude, Western New England College, 1996
Member, Western New England Law Review, 1994-1995
B. A., cum laude, Journalism, University of Rhode Island, 1975
Associate, 1996, and Partner, since 2003, Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C.
Litigation Intern, Office of the Attorney General, Western Massachusetts Division, 1993
Prior to completing law school, Carol worked for 20 years as a journalist for newspapers and magazines, including the Providence Journal, Berkshire Eagle, Palm Beach Post, Miami Herald, New York Times, Newsweek, Esquire and Mademoiselle.
Member, Massachusetts State Bar
Professional and Community Activities
Member, Estate Planning Council of Western Massachusetts, 1996 - present
Member, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, National and Massachusetts chapters (Director 2001-2003 and Vice President 2003 - present)
Member, Friends of Westhampton Library 2004
Frequent lecturer before professional (MBA and MCLE) and civic groups on elder law, long-term care issues, estate planning and tax matters
Publications
Estate Planning for the Aged or Incapacitated Client in Massachusetts, MCLE, 1998 (Contributing author)
Numerous articles for general circulation publications including the New York Times, Newsweek and Esquire on business, science, travel and other topics of general interest |
