Q&A with Lisa Cukier, Family Law Attorney at Burns & Levinson

1/16/21

Lisa Cukier

Lisa Cukier will be leading a free webinar for family office professionals, "Considerations for Mental Health and Special Needs," on January 19, 2021 from 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. ET. Cukier will be joined by guest speaker and behavioral health expert Arden O’Connor to discuss protecting family assets while navigating mental health challenges. The webinar is part of an ongoing series sponsored by Burns & Levinson’s called “The Business of Family” which was created to help family offices better safeguard and serve their clients. Cukier previews some important issues in this Q&A.

Q. The pandemic has exacerbated mental health issues for many people. What are some of the biggest challenges you are seeing right now?

Cukier: The Covid pandemic has spiked anxiety and depression among the adult and adolescent populations. Among the adolescent population, I am handling matters involving adolescent youth and young adults who are cutting and excoriating, and experiencing suicidal ideation and attempts. I am seeing young adults in the revolving door of repeat relapse and psychiatric admissions and discharges. The biggest challenge is finding suitable hospital beds for individuals who end up in the emergency department psychiatric triage unit and who get stuck there for days and nights awaiting placement and treatment.

Q. Can parents really “do anything” to protect their adult children if they are concerned about mental health, substance abuse, addiction or other issues?

Cukier: There is a world of relief for those who are savvy enough to strategize around it or have access to sophisticated advisors and consultants who can position the situation for meaningful change. In my representation of parents of young adults, I might propose the execution of a power-boosted healthcare proxy with special features permitting the parents to obtain medical records and permitting them to speak with clinicians despite HIPAA prohibitions and privileges. Another option to consider is a power-boosted durable power of attorney with special features permitting parents to access college records and university health services records and personnel. Alternatively, I might suggest a guardianship or conservatorship with special authority or limited and tailored authority. I might also strategically intervene with the DA’s office, the university, or family members to plan a meaningful intervention.

Q. While a treatment facility or program may the best place for dealing with these kinds of issues in normal times, it obviously poses more difficulties with Covid still raging. What are some alternative options that you recommend your clients consider?

Cukier: I am architecting concierge home care solutions by which I bring in care managers and family members and an array of different professionals and paraprofessionals into the home, in order to avoid hospitalizations in the first place.

Q. Families with adult children who have special needs, must have a unique set of issues that they have to navigate. Tell us a little about the work you do in this area?

Cukier: This work is always fact-driven and no two client matters are alike. I am currently assisting one family in a situation that involves an adult child with cognitive delay who has fallen victim to the financial exploitation and undue influence of a new romantic interest. My job is to extract this third party from the life of the family to protect the individual, the family and the family wealth. Adults with cognitive delay or diminished capacity are at exceedingly high risk for insidious influence by outsiders, looking to insinuate themselves into family wealth under the guise of romance, but for self-gain.

Q. Can you talk about any recent examples of your successes?

Cukier: I represented several families over the past year with young adult children, all of them in the 20-30 year old range, who are struggling to launch or whose launch was interrupted or impeded by mental illness. In each matter, I used a multi-prong strategy of intervention to position the individual in long-term recovery without relapse to date, while protecting the family from impacts such as manic spending sprees, Covid infections, third-party interference, minimal disruption to family functioning, and without any unexpected dissipation of family wealth.

Q. Is this current crisis causing your clients to start thinking more about long-term planning and strategies? What advice can you share?

Cukier: Initially, people came to me seeking health care proxies and documents that would protect against temporary short-term disability. At this point, now that we understand the virus to be with us for the long-term, my clients are coming to me for trust planning, including incentive trusts and special needs trusts.

Q. What keeps you up at night?

Cukier: I care deeply about all of my clients’ problems, so their problems become my problems and do often keep me up at night thinking about solutions. I’ve never been a person who needs a lot of sleep anyway, so I don’t mind. Sleep is totally overrated.

Lisa Cukier is co-chair of the Private Client Group at the law firm of Burns & Levinson in Boston. She concentrates her practice on estate litigation, estate planning and family law and has many years of experience helping clients through challenging family law matters. She frequently serves as a private adjudicator, Special Master, Guardian ad Litem, and mediator. She can be reached at lcukier@burnslev.com.

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