Estate planning is more than just a set of legal documents – it’s about securing your family’s future and ensuring your wishes are honored for generations to come. Our estate planning services provide personalized strategies to help you plan for the inevitable while navigating life’s complexities. Whether you’re creating a simple estate plan to name guardians for your young children, funding a trust with millions to utilize your federal estate tax exemption, or planning for incapacity, we craft a comprehensive blueprint that reflects your goals and values.

Through thoughtful conversations, we tailor a plan that addresses the distribution of your assets and structures your plan to provide the appropriate level of flexibility for your unique circumstances. Our experienced attorneys, using clear everyday language, guide you through the intricacies of Massachusetts and federal estate tax planning, income tax issues, probate avoidance, asset protection, and the use of trusts for beneficiaries. We help you plan with clarity and peace of mind, so you can rest assured that your legacy will be carried out in exactly the way you envision.

We prepare a wide range of estate planning documents, including:

• Wills

• Revocable trusts

• Durable powers of attorney, to appoint a financial agent

• Health care proxies, to appoint an agent to make medical decisions

• Living wills, to provide guidance to the health care agent regarding end-of-life wishes

• Health privacy waivers, to allow your health care providers to speak with family members and the agents you have named

• Assignments of tangible personal property, to avoid probate

• Life insurance trusts, to avoid estate tax on the death benefit of life insurance policies

• Other irrevocable trusts, such as trusts for spouses (sometimes called SLATs or spousal lifetime access trusts) and trusts for descendants

• Limited liability company operating agreements and related documents, to provide creditor protection and avoid probate (properly structured LLCs can also be used to avoid Massachusetts estate tax for non-Massachusetts residents who own Massachusetts real estate)

• Sophisticated tax planning strategies, such as GRATs (grantor retained annuity trusts) and sales to grantor trusts

*Note that we do not practice in the area of Medicaid planning.