Legal Expertise

Whether you are buying or selling property, having the right attorney can make the experience much smoother. Our experienced attorneys assist buyers, sellers, and lenders with all aspects of real estate transactions, from the initial offer and purchase and sale agreement through closing. Leone & Leone also reviews lease agreements to ensure equitable arrangements for our clients.

Whether you are buying, selling, refinancing, leasing or just starting to think about the real estate market, Leone & Leone is here to help you. We know well that almost any foray into real estate is inherently stressful and time consuming. Our goal is to make your purchase, sale, refinance or lease simple, stress free and as beneficial to you as possible. Leone & Leone also represents buyers, sellers and lenders of personal and commercial transactions and we help clients evaluate development feasibility and options.

The best advice that we can offer is to get in touch with us long before your paperwork is complete. The earlier we are involved in the process, the easier it will be to negotiate the best terms for you as our client. But if you've already begun the process of buying, selling, refinancing or negotiating a lease, don't worry - it's never too late to work with our experienced real estate attorneys. Give us a call today and we can assist you with all of your real estate transaction needs.

We specialize is local zoning and permitting issues. From simple single family home projects to major rezoning and drafting of bylaws for large or mixed use development, Leone & Leone can get you through the process. Our clients range from homeowners, to restaurants and large developers.

Navigating the permitting process is often not something for the faint of heart, nor something to attempt alone because land use law is extremely complex and constantly changing. Determining which permits you need, and appearing before various Town Boards is a complicated, and sometimes frustrating process. In addition, there are often multiple ways to approach a project, including rezoning, permits, negotiations with neighbors, town entities, and other parties. Picking the right path, or changing paths mid-stream is often the hardest part of the process.

Leone & Leone has vast experience working with multiple towns and various boards to get your project on the ground, in the shortest time and with the least resistance and cost. We often play the role of a project manager, coordinating the entire permitting process from concept through construction.

Many of our clients are small business owners - the backbone of their communities. Leone & Leone attorneys helps business owners establish new business entities, manage existing businesses, and we are also experienced counselors when it comes time to close or sell a business. In addition, we have successfully formed, and received IRS nonprofit status for, a number of organizations.

Having advised first-time business owners for generations, we feel confident in saying that before your company can prosper, it needs the proper corporate foundation. Building this foundation usually involves in-depth discussions about corporate goals, business strategies, and an honest evaluation of current market conditions. On the other hand, you may be an experienced business person who is interested in restructuring your company. You may need help updating corporate records, staying current with the latest regulations from the Secretary of State's office, or managing a difficult sale or merger. We have extensive experience in developing and implementing buy-sell agreements and purchase Agreements as well as representing our business clients before the local and State licensing authorities.

Whether you are a first-time business owner or a successful, experienced entrepreneur, Leone & Leone can help you establish, manage, expand or sell your business. As a longtime member of the Arlington business community, we know that local counsel offers benefits for business owners that go far beyond help with corporate formalities - our experienced attorneys are focused on the needs of the businesses in our community and the surrounding towns, and we offer advice and guidance about local matters that you may not be able to receive from other firms.

A comprehensive estate plan is more than just a series of documents - it's a guarantee that your wishes will be respected, both when you are unable to make decisions for yourself due to incapacity and after you are gone. A well drafted estate plan provides your family and loved ones with guidance regarding your health care wishes, financial well-being, and the management and transfer of your wealth at death. Careful planning and drafting can also maximize the value of your estate by minimizing unnecessary taxes and expenses, and can also help your family avoid the time and expense of probate.

Everyone needs an estate plan, even if they don't have a lot of money, because an estate plan allows you to choose your own Personal Representative, Healthcare Agent, Attorney-in-Fact, Trustee and Guardian and decide where your assets will go. If you have minor children, an estate plan also lets you choose a Guardian for your children who will ensure that they are raised according to your family's values. For folks who do have significant resources, estate planning helps avoid taxation and speeds up the management of complex estates.

At Leone & Leone, we work closely with our clients to develop custom estate plans that meet your needs and wishes. Because we know that every client is unique, we take the time to get to know our clients and their families, and we tailor every estate plan to match each individual client.

After losing a loved one, relatives must eventually begin to wind up their family member's affairs and distribute his or her property and possessions. Leone & Leone takes pride in helping families navigate this difficult experience by providing assistance with probate and trust administration from the beginning through a final accounting and beyond.

The last thing that anyone grieving for a relative needs is the additional confusion of a drawn out legal process. As anyone who has gone through the loss of a loved one knows, the court supervised probate process can be lengthy, complex and frustrating. Many steps are required to manage the probate estate and ensure the safekeeping of the decedent's property. If the decedent passed away with a trust, a Successor Trustee steps in to take over management of the Trust.

At Leone & Leone, we work to guide you through the entire probate and trust administration process, from start to finish, in a professional and cost-effective manner. Our Attorneys often represent Personal Representatives before the Probate Court and Original and Successor Trustees in the performance of Trust duties. We frequently help clients consolidate assets, restructure a Trust to take advantage of estate tax savings, sell real estate, work with financial advisors in the investment and management of Estate and Trust assets and distribute Estate and Trust funds. Our experienced attorneys understand that our job is not only to file paperwork and appear in court, but to stand by your family through a tough time, with a helping hand and wise counsel.

With the cost of medical care skyrocketing and viable options for the care of seniors dwindling, careful planning becomes imperative both to ensure quality care for you or a loved one and to protect valuable assets so that they can be used wisely in the future. The attorneys at Leone & Leone help seniors protect their assets from the costs of care and we assist families who need guidance through the Medicaid and Social Security maze.

As our country ages, more and more seniors and their families face incredibly difficult decisions involving long-term care. But long-term care is only a small part of the specialized planning that Leone & Leone provides for older clients and their families. From basic estate planning to real estate management to advocacy and planning for the possibility of long-term care, Leone & Leone provides comprehensive elder law services to help families maximize their hard-earned savings, access the benefits that they deserve, and establish security and peace of mind for their future.

For seniors who are worried about Medicaid coverage for long-term care, Leone & Leone can help prepare clients so that they will be financially eligible and able to set aside some of their assets for others so that the cost of long-term care will not destroy a lifetime of savings. For instance, some seniors may want to establish a trust for their children and grandchildren while avoiding Medicaid liens. Because Medicaid is so confusing, and because the repercussions from bad planning decisions can be so severe, it is imperative that people who are worried about the cost of long-term care speak with Leone & Leone well before they need Medicaid, if possible.

If you or a member of your family has special needs, our attorneys can help you to plan for both the immediate and long-term future. Leone & Leone attorneys work with families to develop plans that preserve access to government benefits, when possible, while at the same time guaranteeing that funds are available for a person with special needs when he or she needs them.

Special needs planning can take many forms depending on the circumstances, but, in most cases our clients are looking for assistance with managing or maximizing current government benefits while ensuring that a loved one will be financially and emotionally protected in the future.

There are usually two separate but interrelated components of special needs planning. First, we review a person with special needs' current or potential benefits to make sure that he or she is receiving everything that he or she is entitled to. Then we help families establish customized estate plans that supplement whatever benefits their family member may receive. This often involves drafting one or more so called "special needs trusts" which can be used not only to supplement a family member's government benefits but to provide them with peace of mind.

Since people with special needs have access to a variety of different government benefits, and especially since each person's needs are completely different, it is important to develop a long-term, working relationship with a special needs planner that you trust. At Leone & Leone we work with families over generations to make sure that, regardless of the circumstances, your loved one with special needs gets the care that he or she needs to thrive.