Keeping up with Washington

Are you one of the many confused citizens trying to keep up with the latest developments on the health care bill?  Visit www.themiddleclass.org, a website authored by the non-partisan Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI).   Through a self-described toolkit of congressional accountability, DMI presents detailed analyses on pending legislation along with a report card on how a particular bill may affect middle-class  America.   One can search by issue of interest, such as retirement security.  Find out how your Representative in Washington is performing by looking up the rating on your Legislator.  The site also allows for RSS feeds.

Photo of  the U.S. Capitol (cc) by Laura Padgett and republished here under a creative commons license.  Some rights reserved.

Changes to Massachusetts probate law

News from the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries:

In January, Massachusetts adopted the Uniform Probate Code, St.2008, c.521, resulting in major changes to current probate laws.  According to the Massachusetts Bar Association,

“The reforms increase uniformity with other states, add protections for those under guardianship and the beneficiaries of trusts, eases the administration of probate matters for judges and court personnel and reduce delays for citizens. Among the changes are:

• Mandating courts to monitor guardianships and requiring guardians to issue annual reports.
• Shorten to seven days after the date of death (from as long as five months) the length of time it takes to appoint an estate administrator
• In the case of no will, the spouse gets the entire estate if the children are all of the marriage.
• Trustees will be required to notify beneficiaries of accountings and acceptance of appointment.”

Some changes are effective July 1, 2009, but most do not take effect until July 1, 2011. 

The Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries has links to this and other probate laws on their website under Mass. Law About Wills and Estates.