Beverly MA Estate Planning Attorney &
Special Needs Planning Elder Law Firm
Estate Planning
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Leading Estate Planning Attorney in Beverly Massachusetts
Contact The Law Offices of Donald J. Fournier & Associates, an estate planning attorney in Beverly, MA (978) 769-5383 We’re strategically located. Our Essex County estate planning lawyers can help with issues ranging from drafting to powers of attorney and a whole lot more. We are licensed to practice in in downtown Beverly, providing legal services to clients in Boxford, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Essex, West Peabody, Wenham, Danvers, Middleton, Lynn, Salem, and throughout the Massachusetts Bay area and many of our estate planning and probate clients come from Cape Ann and Essex County as well. Co
Focused Legal Practice –
Our firm has always concentrated on wills, estate planning, elder law, asset protection, long-term special needs care plans, and trusts and more. With our expert advice and guidance, you can make informed decisions, resulting in a clear and effective plan that minimizes taxes and expenses. Our proactive approach, aimed at reducing stress and potential conflicts, provides a sense of reassurance and security for your loved ones, particularly during emotionally challenging times.
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For Peace of Mind - For Those You Love Estate Planning
We understand that consulting an attorney can be daunting, particularly during stressful situations. Our offices provide a welcoming and inviting atmosphere, and our dedicated staff is committed to ensuring your trust, comfort, and care. We invite you to explore our website for detailed information about our services. Should we align with your needs, please feel free to contact us or register for one of our complimentary workshops to see how we can collaborate to achieve your goals. Serving the communities of Linebrook, Lynnhurst, Ipswich, Agawam, and Raddin Station, MA.
Estate Planning FAQ
What is estate planning?
Estate planning is the process by which an individual determines how their assets will be distributed upon their death. In the United States, all competent adults have the legal right to decide how their property will be allocated after they pass away. An important exception to this rule is the spousal right of election, which prevents the total disinheritance of a spouse in most states
Why is It Important to Have an Estate Plan?
Many people don’t make an estate plan because they think they don’t have enough money or that everything they own will go to their kids automatically when they die. However, by not making a plan, you’re leaving the state to decide who gets your things, which might not align with your wishes. Moreover, it could lead to unnecessary tax payments. Having an estate plan empowers you to control your financial future and ensure your assets go to the right people.
When someone passes away without an estate plan, their possessions have to go through a legal process called probate. This process cannot only take a long time but also cost a lot of money. While this is happening, the people who are supposed to get your things might have to wait a long time. Having an estate plan in place can help you avoid these delays, ensuring a smoother transition of your assets.
Not having an estate plan can also lead to emotional distress within your family. Sometimes, family members fight over who decides what happens with your stuff. Small amounts of money or special items, like a family treasure, can cause big fights. Making an estate plan helps ensure your wishes are followed and can help keep your family from arguing, promoting harmony and peace.
What Does My Estate Include?
Your estate is everything you own, no matter where it is. This includes:
- Your house or any other land or buildings you own
- Your business, if you have one
- Your part of any bank accounts you own with someone else
- Your retirement savings
- Any life insurance policies you own
- Any property in a trust that you control a lot
How Do I Name a Guardian for My Children?
If you have kids under 18, choosing someone to take care of them and their things is essential if something happens to you. It’s important to note that if the other parent is still around and living with the kids, they will automatically become the guardian, even if you’ve named someone else in your will. It’s a good idea to pick a backup guardian in case your first choice can’t do it or isn’t chosen by the court, providing you with a sense of reassurance and being well-informed.
What Estate Planning Documents Should I Have?
Creating an estate plan involves some important documents. These documents help manage what happens to your things and decisions about you if you can’t make them yourself.
- Living Trust: This is like a special box where you keep your things, like your house or money. You manage it while you’re alive, and you pick someone to take over if you can’t do it anymore. A living trust can help avoid the long and expensive court process called probate.
- Pour-Over Will: If you have a living trust, this will is like a safety net. It catches any things you forgot to put into your trust and makes sure they go there after you pass away. It’s also where you name a guardian for your kids if they’re under 18.
- Will (Last Will and Testament): This is a plan for who gets your things when you pass away. You pick someone to make sure your wishes are followed. If you have young kids, you choose who will take care of them if you’re not around.
- Durable Power of Attorney for Property: This allows someone you trust to handle money and property for you if you can’t do it yourself. Without it, the court might have to pick someone, which can be slow and costly.
- Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care: This lets you choose someone to make medical decisions for you if you’re too sick to decide. You can tell them exactly what you want, and they must follow your instructions.
- Living Will: This tells people what kind of medical care you want if you’re very sick and can’t communicate. It helps make sure your wishes are followed.
- HIPAA Authorization Form: This allows doctors to share your medical info with people you trust. It’s important so that your family and anyone helping with your care can get the information they need.
These documents help make sure your wishes are known and followed, and they can keep your family from having to make tough decisions without knowing what you would have wanted.
Advanced Estate Planning
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts
Many people think life insurance money isn’t taxed, but while it doesn’t have income taxes, it can be taxed as part of your estate. This means your family might only get about half of it because of estate taxes.
An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) is a special trust that owns your life insurance policy. It keeps the insurance outside your estate, so it’s not taxed when you pass away. The money from the life insurance can be used to pay for things like estate taxes, debts such as mortgages or loans, and expenses like funeral costs, as well as to provide money for your spouse or kids.
Setting up an ILIT involves creating a trust document, naming a trustee to manage the trust, and transferring your life insurance policy to the trust. The ILIT owns and gets the money from the policy. After you set up the trust, you can give it money each year without paying gift taxes. Your beneficiaries agree to wait for the life insurance money in the future instead of getting the gift now. The trust uses this gift to pay the life insurance costs.
Family Limited Partnerships
A Family Limited Partnership (FLP) is a powerful tool that empowers you to manage your assets. It’s like a special group formed by family members, designed to save on taxes and protect what you own. With an FLP, you retain control of your assets while enjoying these benefits.
Here’s the strategic maneuver: once you create the FLP and transfer your assets into it, you can distribute parts of it as gifts to your chosen recipients. This strategic move serves multiple purposes at once.
First, by giving away parts of the FLP, your total estate that might be taxed gets smaller. This means your family could pay less in taxes when you pass away. Using the annual gift tax exclusion, you can give these gifts without paying extra gift taxes.
Second, the value of the parts you give away is less than what the actual assets in the FLP are worth. The value can be considered lower because people who get these parts (limited partners) can’t make big decisions in the FLP. Plus, since the FLP isn’t something you can quickly sell on the stock market, its value can also be seen as less, making it a good way to pass more wealth to your family.
Lastly, an FLP can protect your assets because the people running it (general partners) don’t have to share the money it makes. This keeps your things safe from creditors.
Qualified Personal Residence Trusts
Our homes are often the most valuable thing we own and make up a big part of what can be taxed when we die. A Qualified Personal Residence Trust, or QPRT (pronounced “cue-pert”), helps you give your house to your family at a lower tax cost, keeps its value steady for taxes, and lets you keep living there. Here’s how it works:
You put your house into the QPRT and say you still want to live there for a certain number of years. If you live past that time, the house and any increase in value during those years goes to your kids or other people you choose without extra taxes. After those years are up, you can still live in the house, but you need to pay rent to your family to keep the house from being taxed again when you pass away. This rent helps lower your taxable estate, but your family has to pay taxes on the rent money they get.
Essex County, MA: Estate Planning Lawyers, Attorneys and Law Firms ·If you pass away before the time is up, the whole value of the house is taxed in your estate, but this won’t leave you worse off than not having a QPRT. A QPRT also protects your house from creditors because you don’t officially own it once it’s in the QPRT. We are dedicated to helping our Essex County, Massachusetts friends and neighbors create a plan that achieves their current estate planning goals.
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At Law Offices of Donald J. Fournier & Associates, we don’t just provide legal services.