In times of war, there are those who show support for the troops by sending care packages or, as the saying goes, by tying a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree.
But a group of Boston Bar Association lawyers are ramping up to provide a different kind of support that only attorneys can provide: estate planning.
The Pro Bono Committee of the BBA's Trust and Estates Section is rolling out the BBA Armed Services Estate Planning Initiative on Jan. 1 in an effort to provide estate planning needs to some of the men and women of the armed forces overseas.
Eric D. Karlberg, one of the co-chairs of the committee, explains that attorneys volunteering for the initiative will be providing a "basic plan" for the troops, including wills, powers of attorney and health-care proxies.
He says the pro bono work will have the added benefit of being handled by lawyers who specialize in trusts and estates rather than by attorneys in the Judge Advocate General corps, who may not be as well-versed in estate planning.
Amantha T. Butler, also a co-chair of the committee, recalls that the idea was developed earlier this year in a section meeting.
"It's pretty hard as an estate planner to find a way to do pro bono work [in our field]," she says, "so we were looking around for ways to give back to the community."
Butler says that the initiative has been designed "to be easy to administer so attorneys can spend time doing plans and have the flexibility to determine how little or how many they take on."
According to Karlberg, armed forces officials are taking care of some of the initial paperwork to help lessen the lawyers' loads.
"The difference so far has been administratively, making sure the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted," says Karlberg, who has already started performing some of the pro bono work.
The co-chairs say that, so far, "people are really excited," and the initiative already has about "a dozen or so" volunteers.
But Karlberg notes that they are still looking for more trusts and estates lawyers to come on board and he encourages attorneys to contact him by e-mail at EDKarlberg@plgt.com.
December 20, 2004
