John Michael Discenza | Martinelli Discenza

John Michael Discenza

John DiscenzaPresident
Co-founder
Senior Estate Planning and Settlement Attorney
Chief Financial Planning Officer
A.B., 1978, Boston College
J.D., 1981, Suffolk University Law School
LL.M., 1982, University of Miami School of Law (Estate Planning)

Telephone: 413.567.8411


Planning Based on the Big Picture

John took an early interest in estate planning. He began his practice at Ryan & White in 1982 where he had an opportunity to assist a host of Greater Springfield’s leading business families in the preparation of sophisticated estate plans. He continued this practice at John Michael Discenza & Associates, P.C., which he started in 1991 and merged with Gary E. Martinelli & Associates, P.C. in 2004. In his experience, John found that much of the information database and strategic thinking used in the development of an estate plan is applicable to lifetime financial plans as well. Given this link to financial planning he founded Martinelli Discenza Investment Counsel, Inc. in 2000 with Gary.

For several years, John taught estate and gift taxation and estate planning at Western New England College School of Law where he now teaches estate and gift taxation in the graduate law Estate Planning and Elder Law program. Combining teaching with his legal practice, John has become highly regarded as an estate planning authority for a generation of other attorneys in Western Massachusetts. John has lectured and co-authored numerous publications for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE), is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and a member and Past President of the Estate Planning Council of Hampden County.

John is a member of the Massachusetts and Florida bars and a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He has served as a member of the investment committee of several local charities and on the Boards of a number of local not-for-profit organizations including the Springfield Symphony and as Chair at Glenmeadow and Cathedral High School, and Treasurer at the Springfield Library and Museums Association.