Retirement accounts are often one of the largest assets in a Massachusetts family’s estate, and they have transfer rules and nuances that differ from many other assets. A carefully drafted…

Most conversations about estate planning focus on what happens at death. A durable power of attorney (DPA) focuses on what happens while you are still alive, but unable to handle…

An estate plan should not be a stagnant set of documents that is filed away and never reviewed. It is a snapshot of the family, the assets, and the law…

Revocable trusts are living documents. Families create them, fund them, and then, as life changes, modify them. The two primary ways to modify a revocable trust are through amendments and…

The moment a family needs to act on an estate plan is usually the worst possible moment to need to go hunting for documents and accounts. A spouse or adult…

When someone dies without a valid will, the law calls that person “intestate.” The decedent’s assets will be distributed according to a statutory formula that may look very different from…

When families sit down to create a will, they naturally assume it controls all their assets. That assumption is understandable, but it misses one of the most consequential rules in…

When a trust holds assets for a beneficiary rather than distributing everything outright, the trustee has to decide when and how much to distribute. Discretionary distribution authority is one of…

When families create trusts as part of an estate plan, one of the most important protective features is often buried deep in the document’s boilerplate. A spendthrift clause restricts a…

Serving as a trustee is a meaningful responsibility. When a family member or friend names someone as trustee, they are expressing deep trust in that person’s judgment, integrity, and willingness…

A revocable trust is a powerful tool for avoiding probate and managing assets, but it only controls assets that have been titled in the trust’s name, or assets that pass…

Joint bank and investment accounts are among the most common assets families hold together. When one account holder dies, the surviving owner often expects immediate, uninterrupted access. In many cases…