overview
As a partner in the firm's Private Client Group and a prior Law Clerk on the Massachusetts Appeals Court, Hether Cahill represents individuals and professional fiduciaries in estate and trust matters, guardianships/conservatorships, and family law.
education
J.D., Suffolk University Law School
B.A., Skidmore College
admissions
Massachusetts, State and Federal
First Circuit Court of Appeals
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
honors & awards
Named to the 2020 “Top Women of Law” list by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
Massachusetts Super Lawyers (2020-2021)
Massachusetts Rising Stars (2009, 2011-2012, 2017-2018)
Boston Chamber of Commerce Women’s Leadership Program (2016-2017)
AV® Preeminent Rating by Martindale-Hubbell
community involvement
Brookline Community Foundation’s Professional Advisors Committee
- Vice-Chair
The Mount, Boston Committee
Boston Chamber of Commerce Women’s Leadership Program (2016-2017)
Ran Boston Marathon 2019 with Team Brookline
experience
- Represented beneficiary of trust in a trustee removal action, resulting in voluntary resignation, appointment of successor trustee, and distribution of trust assets, without court involvement.
- Represented beneficiary of large estate in will contest involving cross-petitions for probate of will, which settled through mediation with substantial distribution to client.
- Represented individual who successfully obtained appointment as permanent guardian and conservator of her incapacitated mother.
- Represented heirs-at-law of large estate in will interpretation case, which settled through mediation with substantial distributions to our clients.
- Represented wife in contentious divorce, which resolved through settlement.
- Represented client in negotiation of prenuptial agreement.
- Represented client omitted from father’s will, which resolved through settlement.
- Represented closest heirs-at-law in an equity case in which a putative son sought to exhume the body of his alleged father, which involved an issue of first impression in Massachusetts as to the standard of exhuming a body for the purpose of obtaining DNA to claim inheritance through intestacy.
- Represented trustees defending against a removal action based on alleged insufficient distributions to lifetime beneficiary of income, which settled mid-trial with our clients remaining as trustees and retaining a beloved family property.
- Represented trustee/beneficiary defending against a removal action, which settled with limited litigation through an early termination of the trust and trust distributions to our client and other beneficiaries.
- Represented grandparents seeking guardianship of minor grandchild due to mother’s drug addiction, resulting in the Court appointing them Temporary Guardians and then settlement.
memberships
Massachusetts Bar Association
- Massachusetts Law Review
- Articles Editor (September 2020-present)
- Case Comment Editor (2017-2020)
- Book Review Editor (2015-2017)
- Associate Editor (2014-2015)
Boston Bar Association
- Co-Chair, Fiduciary Litigation Section (September 2018-2020)
- Member, Trusts & Estates Steering Committee (September 2018-2020)
- Member, Steering Committee for the Beacon Award for Diversity & Inclusion (2019)
Boston Probate and Estate Planning Forum
Trusts & Estates Consortium
- Technology Co-Chair (2016-2018)
Boston Estate Planning Council
articles
articles
“Cy Pres and Deviation,” MCLE Fiduciary Litigation in the Probate Court 5th Edition, 2021
“Why Trusts/Estates Lawyers Need to Know Divorce Law Basics of Trusts, Inheritances, Gifts, and Other Interests,” Co-Presenter, Massachusetts Bar Association Eighth Annual Probate Law Conference, November 12, 2020
“Cy Pres and Deviation,” MCLE Fiduciary Litigation in the Probate Court 4th Edition, 2019
“Limits on Attorney’s Fees,” Massachusetts Bar Association Fifth Annual Probate Law Conference, November 2017
“Using Guardianship of Minors as Leverage to Change Addiction Issues of Parents,” Massachusetts Bar Association Fifth Annual Probate Law Conference, November 2017
“Leveraging Addiction Recovery in Parents by Use of Guardianship of Minors,” Boston Spirit Magazine, September/October 2017
“Guardianship,” MCLE Using Estate Planning to Leverage Treatment of Addiction & Mental Illness, April 2017
“Cy Pres and Deviation,” MCLE Fiduciary Litigation in the Probate Court 3rd Edition, November 2016
“Equity Actions to Determine Ownership, Recover Assets,” Massachusetts Bar Association Fourth Annual Probate Law Conference, November 2016
“It’s STILL Not Too Late to Act!” Massachusetts Divorce Law Monitor, June 2016
“It’s Not Too Late to Act!” Massachusetts Divorce Law Monitor, April 2016
“Civil Law – When to Appeal from a Final Decision: After a Decision on the Merits, or After a Subsequent Decision Concerning Attorney’s Fees? Roy Haluch Gravel Co. v. Central Pension Fund, -U.S.-, 134 S. Ct. 773 (2014)” Massachusetts Law Review Volume 96, No. 4, August 2015
“Civil Law – Abolishing the Distinction Between Natural and Unnatural Accumulations of Snow and Ice When Determining Negligence of Property Owner, Papadopoulos v. Target Corp., 457 Mass. 368 (2010),” Massachusetts Law Review, Volume 94, No. 1, September 2011
“Book Review – When Law Fails: Making Sense of Miscarriages of Justice,” Massachusetts Law Review, Volume 93, No. 1, June 2010
“Employment Law – Combining Non-Consecutive Periods of Employment to Qualify as ‘Eligible Employee’ Under the Family Medical Leave Act Rucker v. Lee Holding Co.,471 F. 3d 6 (1st Cir. 2006),” Massachusetts Law Review Volume 91, No. 4, January 2009
Hether is a co-founder and editor of Beyond the Will, Burns & Levinson’s probate litigation blog.
Recent Posts:
- Preparing for Court: What You Need to Know About Probate, September 16, 2021
- Do I Need to Nominate a Guardian for My Child or Pet? June 18, 2021
- When Do You Need a Lawyer? Understanding Fiduciary Litigation, May 13, 2021
- Disclaimers: A Useful Tool Through a Conservator for a Single Transaction, March 29, 2021
- What To Do if Estate Assets Need To Be Managed During Litigation: Examining the Austen Family, February 25, 2021
- Financial Exploitations and the Authority of a Conservator, January 28, 2021
- New Year’s Resolution – Try To Avoid Probate Litigation, December 31, 2020
- How Ancestry Kits Upend Estate Plans and Create Estate & Trust Litigation, November 26, 2020
- Cast of Characters Involved in Guardianship and Conservatorship Proceedings, October 22, 2020
- Guardianship and Conservatorship: Relationship with Health Care Proxy and Durable Power of Attorney, September 24, 2020
- Resolving Cases During the Pandemic, August 27, 2020
- Opportunities During the Pandemic, July 30, 2020
- Blended Families and Intestacy Laws with Step-Children, June 25, 2020
- What Happens When a Spouse Dies During the Divorce Process, May 28, 2020
- Help! My Spouse Disinherited Me!, April 23, 2020
- Undue Influence – Burden Shifting, March 30, 2020
- The Impact of Coronavirus on Probate Litigation, March 19, 2020
- Who Can Participate in a Probate or Trust Litigation Case?, January 31, 2020
- When Do I File My Probate or Trust Litigation Case?, December 30, 2019
- What is “Probate Litigation”?, November 27, 2019
- Where Do I File My Probate or Trust Litigation Case?, October 30, 2019
features
“Pumphrey, Daughter, Named to Super Lawyers List,” The Berkshire Eagle, November 2020
quotes
“Victim’s Son Can’t Access Murderer’s Spendthrift Trust,” Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, October 2020
speaking engagements
“Checklist for Family Business Succession Planning,” Panelist, MCLE webcast, February 2022
“What We Can Learn from Britney Spears: When Guardianships and Conservatorships Go Wrong,” Co-Presenter, Massachusetts Guardianship Association/Social Law Library Annual Conference, September 2021
“Conflicts of Interest in Estate Planning and Administration, and Best Practices to Avoid Them, from the Perspective of a Probate and Trust Litigator,” Boston Estate Planning Council Roundtable Breakfast, June 2021
“Why Trusts/Estates Lawyers Need to Know Divorce Law Basics of Trusts, Inheritances, Gifts, and Other Interests,” Co-Presenter, Massachusetts Bar Association Eighth Annual Probate Law Conference, November 2020
“Protecting the Interests of Incapacitated Persons: Issues and Considerations for Fiduciaries and Agents,” Co-Moderator, Boston Bar Association Fiduciary Litigation Committee & Elder Law Committee, Webinar, June 2, 2020
“From a Litigation Perspective, Conflicts of Interest Arising in Estate Planning and Trust and Estate Administration,” Boston Probate and Estate Planning Forum, February 5, 2020
“Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling,” Counsel to Counsel with Stephen Seckler, Esq. Podcast, January 21, 2020
“Depositions,” Panelist, MCLE Taking Depositions Workshop, October 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019
“Understanding and Utilizing the Fiduciary Litigation Session,” Co-Moderator, Boston Bar Association Fiduciary Litigation Committee brown bag luncheon, October 15, 2019
“Discovery Methods,” MCLE Pretrial Litigation Primer, October 2, 2019
“Evidentiary Issues in Guardianship Cases,” Speaker, Massachusetts Guardianship Association Annual Guardianship Conference, November 2018
“Wills, Trusts, Probate & Estate Litigation,” Speaker, Newton Community Education Seminar, June and September 2016, and May and October 2017
“Estate Planning Strategies to Help Avoid Family Strife,” Radio Entrepreneurs interview, March 2017
“Guardianship, Conservatorship, & Special Needs Planning,” Speaker, Newton Community Education Seminar, May 2016