Estate Planning
Estate planning is more than just making a will. A proper estate plan encompasses a thoughtful discussion of your dispositional goals, including an education of the framework of the laws and procedures that affect your wishes after death. In Massachusetts, a proper estate plan includes a will for each individual and one or more trusts, which will help to ensure that your property passes to your desired family members, friends, and/or charities, while minimizing or deferring the impact of state and federal transfer taxes and unnecessary court costs and procedures. Our attorneys pride themselves on their personal and hands-on approach to each estate planning client. We are not a mill that churns out a form set of estate planning documents and sends you on your way. We look to get to know you, your family, your financial situation, your business and other significant aspects of your life. We look to establish and maintain a long-term relationship with each estate planning client and their family.
Estate Planning
Our estate planning attorneys are highly experienced and educated in the most current and appropriate estate tax minimization techniques; each of them holding Master’s Degrees in Taxation, in addition to their law degrees. We frequently advise our clients on the most tax-efficient strategies to meet their estate planning and tax minimization goals, such as drafting and implementing irrevocable insurance trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, charitable trusts, family limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and intentionally defective grantor trusts, just to name a few. We work collaboratively with our clients’ accountants, financial planners, and investment advisors to fully integrate the knowledge and expertise of each and every professional who advises our clients. Our professionals are also familiar with the range of complex legal and tax-related issues that real estate owners, owners of closely held businesses, executives of publicly traded companies, and self-employed individuals and professionals face in the day-do-day operation of their businesses. We also regularly advise our clients with respect to business succession concerns.
Estate Planning
Families with children or other family members with special needs require additional estate planning to ensure that their loved ones are properly taken care of in the event their current caretakers are no longer around or able to do so. Our attorneys are well-versed in the area of special needs planning and can readily assist in this area. We regularly draft trusts for persons with special needs and/or disabilities (commonly referred to as special needs or supplemental needs trusts) to ensure that the trust assets remain available for the benefit of your loved ones while not jeopardizing their eligibility for government benefits. Each estate plan is catered to meet the needs of the special needs person and their parent or their primary caretaker. We also provide counsel and guidance for the management of funds for adult persons with disabilities, whether it derives from an inheritance or resulting from the settlement of a personal injury case.
