Mary Kate Speed believes that good planning starts with a simple principle she lives by: the only person you can control is yourself.
You cannot control when a loved one will die, whether you will need long-term care, how family relationships may change, or what challenges life will bring. You can control how well you prepare for them. For Mary Kate, estate and elder law is about helping people take responsibility for the things within their control so they can create greater security and stability for themselves and the people they love.
Mary Kate has practiced in estate and trust law since 2011. As Managing Partner of Lambariello, Smith & Speed, LLC and a Certified Elder Law Attorney, she counsels individuals and families in estate planning and elder law and leads the firm's Probate and Estate Administration Department.
That combination gives Mary Kate a perspective that extends beyond creating an estate plan. She also sees what happens when that plan eventually has to work.
After a death, families are often surprised to learn that probating a Will may be only the beginning. Assets must be identified, valued and transferred; debts and taxes addressed; beneficiaries kept informed; and ultimately, the estate properly accounted for and distributed. Mary Kate and her Estate Administration team guide executors, administrators, trustees and families through that entire process.
Her estate administration practice also makes her a better planner. Mary Kate has seen firsthand the difference between a plan that looks good on paper and one that actually works when a family needs it. She approaches planning with the eventual administration in mind, looking for ways to make things clearer and more manageable for the people who will someday be responsible for carrying it out.
For Mary Kate, both sides of the practice come back to responsibility and protection. Before a crisis or death, that means taking responsibility for the decisions within your control and putting the right plan in place. After a death, it means helping the person entrusted with administering an estate understand what needs to be done and, more importantly, making sure it gets done correctly.
Mary Kate's approach is practical and direct. She wants clients to understand not only what they should do, but why they are doing it. She believes people make better decisions when they understand their options, their responsibilities and the consequences of their choices.
She also believes deeply that it takes a village. No one person should be expected to navigate every legal, financial, tax, health care and family issue alone. Mary Kate works alongside financial advisors, accountants, care professionals and other trusted professionals to help clients build the right team around themselves and their families.
Mary Kate holds herself and her team to a high standard. When someone entrusts a law firm with their family, assets, or a loved one's estate, she believes they deserve thoughtful advice, careful work, clear communication, and follow-through. Her commitment to that standard led her to earn the Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA) credential from the National Elder Law Foundation.
Ultimately, Mary Kate's work is about more than documents, court procedures, tax filings or financial assets. It is about protecting a spouse, providing for children, preserving what someone spent a lifetime building, supporting an executor through an unfamiliar process, and helping a family move forward after a loss, knowing things were handled the right way.
That is why the mission of LSS Law is particularly personal to Mary Kate:
Protecting what you value most, during life and after death.
