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Areas of Practice

Estate Planning

 

Whether you’re a parent looking to make sure that you’ve provided for your children or a high-net-worth client with specific wishes for distribution of your estate, I can help you design an appropriate estate plan based on your individualized needs. My services encompass a range of clients’ needs from drafting the “core” estate planning documents (wills, revocable trusts, durable powers of attorney and health care proxies) to implementing more sophisticated lifetime gifting techniques. Estate planning documents aren’t always as straightforward as one might hope, but I pride myself on taking the time to make sure that you understand what your documents say and how they work so that you can be confident that they reflect your intentions.

Representative Matters Include:

  • Preparation of wills and trusts for young parents with a Massachusetts taxable estate (over $1 million)

  • Generation-skipping wills and trusts for high-net worth families looking to preserve wealth for successive generations

  • Lifetime gifting techniques to reduce estate taxes, including irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), and qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs)

  • Creation and maintenance of “Crummey” gift trusts to take advantage of the annual gift tax exclusion

  • Formation of private foundations for clients who wish to create a charitable legacy for their family

Tax

 

The tax code is already incredibly complex and for all lawmakers’ promises to simplify it, it seems like taxes only get more complicated. I can help you navigate the intricacies of income, gift, estate and generation-skipping taxes, including advising on the tax consequences of various transactions and preparation of tax returns.

Representative Matters Include:

  • Preparation of tax returns for individuals, including income and gift tax returns

  • Preparation of tax returns for fiduciaries, including income and estate tax returns

  • Advising on the tax consequences of various trust division and termination transactions

  • Helping structure partnership redemptions to obtain the best income tax result for the withdrawing partner

  • Reviewing gift tax returns prepared by accountants to ensure accurate reporting of lifetime gifting transactions

Trust & Estate Administration

 

Administering trusts and estates takes knowledge of the responsibilities involved and skill in interpreting trust instruments and balancing the interests of various beneficiaries. Moreover, the applicable law, especially trust law, is constantly evolving, meaning that the best practices of yesterday may no longer be advisable today. I am here to provide advice and assistance to trustees of trusts and personal representatives of estates so that they can be confident that they have fulfilled their fiduciary duties.

Representative Matters Include:

  • Probating estates in Massachusetts, including preparation of petitions for informal and formal probate and accompanying court filings and assisting in transferring title of assets to beneficiaries

  • Preparation of estate tax returns and accountings

  • Preparation and maintenance of trust records, including appointments/resignations of trustees, memoranda of trustee action, trust accountings, and fiduciary income tax returns

  • Advising trustees on the advisability of modifying trusts based on changes in income tax laws using methods such as trust merger and trust decanting

  • Advising beneficiaries of their rights under trust instruments, including interpreting distribution provisions and reviewing trust accountings