Biography
Ms. Hjerpe's practice centered on the areas of estate planning, elder law, Medicaid planning, guardianships, probate and estate administration, trust administration, and special needs trusts.
For much of her career, Macrina provided sophisticated tax and estate planning to a wide range of high-net-worth clients. Macrina’s passion for elder law grew out of a family crisis. Her father, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease, contracted a staph infection in his brain following brain surgery. As Macrina and her family grappled with the issues surrounding Medicare, home care, Veterans Benefits, long-term care, and Medicaid, she came to realize that many of the legal techniques that save estate tax for the wealthy also help to protect assets for the elderly. Since then, Macrina utilized her legal training to help families plan to protect their assets in the face of a long-term care crisis. Macrina's objective with each client was to treat their families as if they were her own.
Macrina is an Accredited Attorney with the United States Veterans Administration and is a sought-after speaker who frequently lectures on Estate Planning, Medicaid Planning, Trust Administration, Ethics in Estate Planning, Probate, and Elder Law.
Prior to joining Chace Ruttenberg & Freedman, Macrina served as Of Counsel at Winograd, Shine Land & Finkle, was a Senior Vice President and Trust Officer at Bank of America, N.A. and a voting member of the Bank of America’s Northeast Regional Fiduciary Committee. She has also worked as a Senior Attorney and Trust Specialist for the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Thrift Supervision and began her career as an associate at Kutak, Rock & Campbell, Washington, D.C.
Education
- University of Notre Dame (JD)
- Boston University School of Law (LLM)
- College of the Holy Cross (BA, magna cum laude)
Bar Memberships
- Rhode Island
- Massachusetts
- Washington D.C.
Associations
- Rhode Island Bar Association
- Massachusetts Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar Association (inactive)
- Co-Chairperson of the Elderlaw subcommittee of the Rhode Island Bar Association
- Massachusetts Association of Elder Law Attorneys
- Charter Member of ElderCounsel
- WealthCounsel,
- Board Member, R.I. Alzheimer’s Association
- Estate Planning Council of Rhode Island
Publications
- “The Status of the State and Federal Estate Tax” Northwestern Mutual Insurance Co.
- “Forget Me-Nots For Caregivers” Alzheimer’s Care Giver’s Conference
- “Planning for the Future-Estate Planning, Medicaid Benefits for Veterans” Home and Hospice of Rhode Island
- “Long Term Care Possibilities” Fidelity Investments
- “Understanding Portability” R.I. Bar Association
- "A Discussion on Long Term Care,” Temple Om David and Temple Habonim
- "National Business Institute”
- "Advanced Elder Law"
- "Sophisticated Probate Strategies"
- "Veteran’s and Military Benefits: Disability, Dependence and Indemnity, Pension”
- “For Seniors”, East Bay Newspapers column discussing estate planning and long term care planning issues
