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Since 1996, the Law Offices of Brian E. Barreira in Plymouth and Hingham, Massachusetts have provided legal services to individuals, married couples, business owners, senior citizens, disabled persons and their families in the areas of estate planning, long-term care planning (including Medicaid or MassHealth applications and fair hearing appeals), governmental benefits planning (including SSI), estate and gift tax matters and Probate Court issues (including estates, trusts, guardianships and conservatorships). Brian is dedicated to providing the highest level of legal expertise to clients while attempting to keep matters as simple as possible to hold clients' overall costs down.

Brian received his law degree from Boston University School of Law in 1984. Later, while practicing law, he enrolled part-time in the Graduate Tax Program at Boston University School of Law, where he attained a Master of Laws in Taxation in 1990.

An early leader in the development of elder law as a specialty, Brian served for 6 years as the first Chair of the Elder Law Committee of the American Bar Association's General Practice Section. He has also served as President, Treasurer and Director of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Attorneys, and as Chair of the Committee on Long-Term Health Care Issues of the American Bar Association's Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section.

Among Brian's diverse experiences, he has served as a background source on elder financial abuse reports for the Boston Globe Spotlight Team and 60 Minutes; as an undercover informant for the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office in shutting down an organization that was fraudulently selling trusts to senior citizens; and as an expert witness in a recent case opposing the fees of two lawyers who attempted to charge over $500,000 for an 83-day temporary guardianship.

Brian has been published nationally numerous times in such legal journals as Estate Planning, Probate & Property, NAELA Quarterly and The Practical Lawyer, and in Massachusetts for several Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and Massachusetts Bar Association publications on the topics of estate planning, probate, estate and gift taxation, Medicaid and elder law. Brian has recently been updating several of those articles and has been posting them at his blog, http://elderlawblog.info.

Brian has spoken nationally at American Bar Association Annual Meetings in Orlando, Florida and San Francisco, California, at Elder Law Symposia in San Diego, California, Orlando, Florida, Atlanta, Georgia and New York City, New York, at Elder Law Institutes in Colorado Springs, Colorado and St. Louis, Missouri, and at the Advanced Estate Planning Institute of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Coronado, California. In Massachusetts, Brian has spoken for the Massachusetts Bar Association's Probate Law Section, the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Advanced Legal Studies Program of Suffolk Law School, the Cape Cod Estate Planning Council, the Bristol County Estate Planning Council, the Plymouth County Bar Association, the Plymouth District Bar Association and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education.

Prior to opening his own law office in 1996, Brian worked for 11+ years settling complex estates at State Street Bank and Trust Company in Boston, Massachusetts and practicing estate planning, probate and elder law for law firms in Boston and Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Brian continues to speak to numerous professional and civic groups about all aspects of estate planning, probate and elder law, and is available to groups seeking speakers or information about these topics.

Title	Publisher	Published
Tax Considerations Regarding Trusts, Estate Planning for the Aging or Incapacitated Client in Massachusetts	MCLE Book Publications, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education	2004
An Analysis of Various Types of Transfers of the Home: Tax and Medicaid Issues	Elder Law Institute	2001
Proper Medicaid Planning Can Keep the Home in the Family	Estate Planning	2001
Tax Traps for the Unwary	Suffolk University Elder Law Institute	1998
Using a Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust to Pay for Long-Term Care Insurance	Estate Planning	1997
An Overview of Estate Planning on Behalf of Incompetent Persons	Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly	1995
Using Special Powers of Appointment in Medicaid Planning	NAELA Quarterly	1992
Your Client's Right to Say No: A Nursing Home Is Not Inevitable, Especially If the Goal Is Home Health Care	The Complete Lawyer	1992
Medicaid Trusts: Resolving the Income Tax Issues	Estate Planning	1991
Despite Medicaid Transfer Restrictions, the Home May Still Be Kept in the Family	Estate Planning	1990
Using Special Powers in Medicaid Trusts	Probate & Property	1990
An Irrevocable Grantor Trust Can Assure Eligibility for Medicaid	Estate Planning	1989