Background
We provide estate planning services for individuals, couples, and families in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, including both simple and advanced planning structures. We are expanding those services to Maine residents this Spring.
In one Massachusetts matter, a family that had built substantial wealth over nearly four decades through their family business faced exposure to state estate taxes because of the state’s very low estate tax exemption.
In other matters, clients in New Hampshire and Massachusetts wanted their retirement assets distributed through trusts to avoid and minimize the future expense, delay and hassle of probate administration, and others required more advanced planning for charitable giving or complex asset structures.
Key Issue
Without careful planning, these estates would have faced unnecessary tax exposure, probate complications, or reduced protection for beneficiaries.
Resolution
We implemented a range of planning strategies tailored to each situation, including:
- Transferring life insurance policies into irrevocable trusts to remove their value from the taxable estate.
- Establishing credit shelter trusts for spouses to avoid or minimize exposure to estate taxes.
- Structuring discounted asset transfers to adult children with creditor and spendthrift protections.
- Preparing qualified retirement trusts to allow tax deferral and long-term growth for beneficiaries.
- Creating family limited partnership structures using LLC ownership and fractional interests to reduce estate tax exposure.
- Designing a Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust combined with a wealth replacement trust, resulting in a charitable gift with a beneficial tax deduction, while preserving equivalent value of the gift for the client’s children.
These approaches helped our clients protect their assets, reduce their tax burdens, and carry out their long-term legacy goals.