Bristol County

For many people, selling or buying a home is the most expensive transaction of their lives. Much rides on the transaction going smoothly and having all aspects of the deal appropriately addressed. For example, it is important to know whether an easement will affect the house that you are buying, and to that end it is important to retain an attorney who can conduct a thorough title examination and advise you on title insurance. Similarly, a lot may be at stake in workers' compensation claims. Many injured workers depend on the workers' compensation system when they become sick or disabled, and unable to work. They may expect the process to go smoothly. Unfortunately, in many cases, insurers deny valid claims or refuse to pay certain benefits to which an injured worker is entitled. If you are bringing a workers' compensation claim or buying property, you should consult the Bristol County real estate attorneys and workers’ compensation lawyers at Pulgini & Norton for sound advice and tenacious representation.

If you are injured in Massachusetts, and the insurer approves your claim, medical treatment guidelines will be applied. These guidelines are supposed to address most of the suitable tests and treatments for 28 common work injuries and illnesses. They are drafted with the help of expert clinicians and what is considered sound medical evidence. Numerous knowledgeable groups then review the draft guidelines. Following these guidelines is not mandatory. However, they are used to give guidance not only to insurers but also to clinicians and utilization review agents, and only about 10% of treatments are expected to veer away from what the guidelines outline.

For your first visit, your employer is allowed to choose a health care provider to evaluate you. After that, you are entitled to choose your own providers. In Massachusetts, you can change providers once without permission, but if you want to switch providers after that, you will need to get insurer permission. Additionally, the insurer is permitted to have you evaluated by the doctor it chooses.

The provider you see is expected to stick to the treatments specified in the guidelines as much as possible. The insurer will keep track of which possible medical services are to be provided, and its agents will use the guidelines to decide whether your doctor's choices for treatment are medically necessary and likely to be effective.

One of the issues that may arise when you buy or sell residential real estate is the existence of easements. They are usually created through a conveyance in a deed or another document. Sometimes the document establishes the precise duration and scope. However, if the document is informal, it may not have sufficient precision to stand up in court. It can be helpful to have attorneys draft such a document. Easements may also be terminated through another written document, by abandonment, or through condemnation by a public authority.

In some cases, easements are permanent, but they can also be temporary and may be terminated once their purpose is fulfilled. For example, when one parcel is divided in half, the owner of one half might need to share a driveway that goes over the other half in order to get construction work done. Once the construction work has been completed, the easement's purpose will also be complete.

Bristol County is included in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metropolitan Statistical Area. If you are thinking of buying real estate or bringing a claim for benefits after a job-related accident, the Bristol County workers’ compensation lawyers and real estate attorneys at Pulgini & Norton may be able to help ensure that these decisions are sound and that the process goes smoothly. Call us at 781-843-2200 or contact us via our online form for a free consultation.