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Mark W. Worthington, Counsellor-At-Law

Mark W. Worthington is a licensed attorney in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester, and came to Massachusetts in 1983 to work for Raytheon Company. He has published articles on laser physics and computer software and hardware design.

Mark received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from Northeastern University School of Law, and clerked for both federal district court and state supreme court while still in law school. He was awarded the Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation from Boston University School of Law. The LL.M. is a post-doctoral degree in a specialized area of law. Only 6% of all lawyers go beyond the J.D. to earn an LL.M. in one of 50 different fields. Of those, only a fraction earn their LL.M. in taxation.

Most recently, Mark earned the Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA) designation from the National Elder Law Foundation. Of the roughly 4,500 elder law attorneys nationwide, only 320 have attained the status of CELA since the designation was created 11 years ago. Mark is one of only 12 CELAs in the state of Massachusetts, and the only attorney in Worcester County, to hold both a CELA and an LL.M.

Mark also serves as Adjunct Professor of Law at Western New England College School of Law in Springfield, Massachusetts. He teaches in the LL.M. Program for Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Estate Planning and Elder Law

Mark practices exclusively in the area of estate planning and elder law. He has taught advanced estate and gift taxation at national meetings of the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys, is a co-author of the book "Legacy: Plan, Protect, & Preserve Your Estate," and is an acknowledged contributor to the leading treatise on estate planning for retirement plan benefits.

Mark is a strong believer in continuing legal education and strives to learn from other estate planning attorneys throughout the nation. In the past three years alone, he has traveled from coast to coast to attend over 350 hours of Continuing Legal Education in estate planning offered by New York University School of Law, American Law Institute-American Bar Association, Esperti/Peterson Institute for Advanced Wealth Strategies at Michigan State University, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, WealthCounsel LLC, and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.

Professional Affiliations

Teaching and Publications

Teaching CLE:

  • "Recent Tax Developments," Mass NAELA Jan 2003
  • "Taxation of Jointly Held Property," Mass NAELA June 2002
  • "Tax Aspects of 26 Kinds of Common Home Transfers," NAELA Institute, St. Louis Nov 2001
  • "Retained Special Powers of Appointment," Mass NAELA Feb 2000
  • "What You Thought You Knew About Estate & Gift Taxation," Oct 1996

Articles:

  • "New Rules for Home Sales are Surprisingly Pro-Taxpayer," Trusts & Estates, vol.142, no.3, p.14 (March 2003)
  • "Last Chance for Tax Free Sales?" Estates, Gifts and Trusts Journal, vol.23, no.2, p.79 (Taxation Management, March-April 1998)

Peer Reviewer:

  • "Life and Death Planning for Retirement Plan Benefits," Natalie B. Choate
  • "The QPRT Manual," Natalie B. Choate

Personal

Mark and his wife, Shari, moved to Worcester in 1988, where they live today with their daughter, and are active in their local Marriage Encounter community.

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Serving Worcester County, including Worcester, Shrewsbury,
Northborough, Westborough, Sturbridge, and Harvard

© Copyright Smith Worthington, LLC, Counsellors-at-Law
102 Shore Drive, Suite 100 Worcester MA 01605
Just across the street from the Greendale YMCA. Plenty of free parking.
Phone: 508-853-1900 Fax: 508-853-1777
Email: markw@ma-estateplanning.com Web: www.ma-estateplanning.com

The material on this page or email messages sent to markw@ma-estateplanning.com
does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney client relationship.

Certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Law Foundation, a private non-profit organization accredited by the
American Bar Association, but whose standards for certification are not regulated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.