Christine’s passion for helping families shines through in her work as an attorney in Mirick’s Trusts and Estates Group. She focuses her practice on the following areas:
- MassHealth applications
- Guardianship and conservatorship for adults under an incapacity
- Asset protection planning for elders
- Special needs planning for families
- Estate Planning
- Probate and trust administration
Christine works closely with elder clients to design an estate plan which will provide advance asset protection in the event of an elder’s future application for MassHealth benefits to pay for nursing home care. She also develops crisis planning strategies for the application to enable an elder to financially qualify for MassHealth when advance planning was not previously done.
Christine represents families in court to obtain guardianship and conservatorship of adults with disabilities who are unable to make personal, financial, or medical decisions. She also advises parents on special needs planning, including the creation of third-party supplemental needs trusts to protect public benefits in the event of a child’s inheritance and also first-party special needs trusts to shelter settlement proceeds or other windfalls received by an individual with disabilities.
Additionally, Christine probates wills and intestate estates and guides Personal Representatives and Trustees through the complex estate administration and trust administration processes.
Christine strongly believes that even the most well-crafted estate plans can be ineffective if the client does not understand how they work or why the planning is necessary. She prioritizes client participation in the development of the plan as well as deep discussion of the client’s needs and goals. For the education of the greater community, Christine presents webinars and seminars at local Senior Centers on topics of interest to elders and their families such as the MassHealth/Medicaid application process, estate planning, trusts and asset protection planning.
Prior to joining Mirick, Christine was an officer in the Trusts and Estates Department at Fletcher Tilton specializing in elder law.
- New England School of Law, JD
- Smith College, BA
- Massachusetts
- National Association of Elder Law Attorneys
- Worcester County Bar Association
- Emerson Hospital, Community Corporator, 2017- Present
- Honoring Choices, Community Partner
- Estate and Business Planning Council of Worcester County
- Boston magazine’s Top Trusts and Estates Lawyers (2021)
- “Ways an Elder Law Attorney Can Help Families and Caregivers,” U.S. News & World Report, February 11, 2025
- “Understanding and Using Trusts,” MCLE, September 26, 2024
- “Trusts, Trusts and more Trusts: Which one is Right for You?” Harvard Senior Center, July 16, 2024
- “What Conveyancers Need to Know When Elderly Clients Buy Property”, MCLE, May 20, 2024
- “Trust Planning for Asset Protection,” Acton Senior Center (June 27, 2023) (presenter)
- “10 Things I Know About Long-Term Care Planning for Small Business Owners,” Worcester Business Journal, April 17, 2023
- “Probate: All You Need to Know,” Torchlight webinar (March 10, 2022)
- “All About Trusts,” Torchlight webinar (January 20, 2021)
- “How to Serve as a Health Care Agent and Agent Under Power of Attorney,” Torchlight webinar (January 15, 2020)
- “It’s All in the Fine Print,” ElderCare Illuminated podcast (discussing review of nursing home and assisted living admission agreements) (2019)
- “Guardianship,” Torchlight webinar (July 25, 2018)
- “Understanding Medicare and Medicaid,” Torchlight webinar (June 7, 2017)
- “Honoring Choices Massachusetts: A New Tool to Promote Advance Directives,” The MassNAELA Advocate
