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<p>NANTICOKE &#8212; Lawyers working for free?</p><p>It doesn&#8217;t happen too often.</p><p>But it did Saturday, and it was to reward some of our community&#8217;s bravest servants.</p><p>The Pennsylvania Bar Association&#8217;s Young Lawyers Division set up shop at Luzerne County Community College to help first responders write wills and other estate plans.</p><p>The lawyers volunteered their services for free through the Wills for Heroes Foundation, which was started after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.</p><p>Many of the first responders who gave their lives on 9/11 had no estate planning documents, which made the loss all the more difficult for their families. First responders such as local police officers, firefighters, EMTs, veterans, and more were able to sit down with their families and a lawyer and work out the details of their estate in an efficient, friendly environment that helped talking about such a grim subject a little less difficult.</p><p>Luzerne County Manager and attorney David Pedri facilitated the event.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a great opportunity and it&#8217;s a great way to give back to the community,&#8221; said Pedri. &#8220;This is under the Young Lawyers Division of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Now, what happened is, after 9/11, there were 453 of our brave first responders who passed away in that tragedy. Over 85 percent of those individuals did not have estate planning documents. This is some way that the attorneys can give back to them to make sure that they feel comfortable, that their families are taken care of, and that they will have this document that&#8217;s a professional grade document that they&#8217;ll have for the rest of their lives.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s also an opportunity for the young lawyers to get some experience.</p><p>&#8220;Every lawyer will get a chance to do documents like financial power of attorney. We have estate experts here as well so that if you have any sort of particularly difficult areas they can evaluate those. But everybody&#8217;s got a good opportunity to finish these things up,&#8221; Pedri explained.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre City Police Department Commander Ron Foy sat down to get his documents in order.</p><p>&#8220;When you&#8217;re a young guy, you seem invincible, but once you get a little older, you know that every day you go out, you might not come home. The whole process was so easy and smooth,&#8221; Foy noted. &#8220;It&#8217;s an excellent program.&#8221;</p><p>Attorney Brenda Colbert specializes in estate law and was there to help with the more intricate situations.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m just acting as an expert, since I&#8217;m an estate planner and elder law attorney. The volunteers will sit down with the first responders and put together their wills, financial powers of attorney, and health care powers of attorney. When that&#8217;s done, I review it with them to make sure it is actually meeting what they want,&#8221; Colbert explained.</p><p>First responders also have different needs than civilians, such as planning pensions. &#8220;The wills and powers of attorney that we&#8217;re doing today take care of things that they own in their own names, that do not otherwise have a beneficiary designation. So what we counsel is that we make sure they review their beneficiary designated assets, such as if the pension is going to have a survivor,&#8221; said Colbert.</p><p>The Wills for Heroes sessions usually take place around Super Bowl Sunday, according to Pedri. So those who qualify should consider preparing documents to be ready for next year&#8217;s event.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Attorneys Dyan Dinstel, left, Brenda D. Colbert, center, and Kevin R. Grevas confer while volunteering at Wills for Heroes at Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke on Saturday. Wills for Heroes is a national project that offers first responders free legal help in drafting a will or other estate documents. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Wills-for-Heroes-1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Attorneys Dyan Dinstel, left, Brenda D. Colbert, center, and Kevin R. Grevas confer while volunteering at Wills for Heroes at Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke on Saturday. Wills for Heroes is a national project that offers first responders free legal help in drafting a will or other estate documents. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Wills-for-Heroes-2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Attys. Mary Deady, left, and Romilda Crocamo look over estate paperwork for a first responder during the Wills for Heroes event Saturday at Luzerne County Community College. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Wills-for-Heroes-2-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Attys. Mary Deady, left, and Romilda Crocamo look over estate paperwork for a first responder during the Wills for Heroes event Saturday at Luzerne County Community College. </caption1><photoCredit1>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Wills-for-Heroes-3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">John Berti, in foreground at left, a firefighter from Shavertown, completes final estate paperwork to be nortarized and filed at the Luzerne County Courthouse during Saturday&#8217;s Wills for Heroes event. Aiding in the process is attorney Laura Dennis, right; David Pedri, background left, Pennsylvania Bar Association coordinator; Louise Ligi, background right, notary public; and Mia Bovani, right hidden, assisting. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Wills-for-Heroes-3-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>John Berti, in foreground at left, a firefighter from Shavertown, completes final estate paperwork to be nortarized and filed at the Luzerne County Courthouse during Saturday&#8217;s Wills for Heroes event. Aiding in the process is attorney Laura Dennis, right; David Pedri, background left, Pennsylvania Bar Association coordinator; Louise Ligi, background right, notary public; and Mia Bovani, right hidden, assisting. </caption2><photoCredit2>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Pa. Bar Association behind Wills for Heroes event</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Katherine Pugh</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Pa. Bar Association offers free estate planning to first responders