Duxbury Estate Planning Attorney

Yes. Massachusetts taxes estates valued at $2 million or more, and unlike the federal estate tax (which has a much higher threshold), this amount includes everything, including your home, retirement accounts, life insurance death benefits, investments, and other assets. For many Duxbury families, proper planning is essential to reduce or avoid this tax. The strategies that work best often need to be implemented years in advance, so early planning is key.

An irrevocable trust removes assets from your taxable estate, which can reduce estate tax exposure and protect those assets from creditors and certain legal claims. The tradeoff is that you give up direct control of the assets placed in the trust. Irrevocable trusts are most useful for families with significant assets who want to protect wealth for future generations. I will help you understand whether this type of trust makes sense for your situation.

If you only have a will, your entire estate goes through probate, a court-supervised process that is public, takes several months to over a year, and costs money in legal and court fees. Your beneficiaries cannot access most assets until probate is complete. A trust-based plan avoids this by transferring your assets outside of probate, which gives your family immediate access and keeps your financial affairs private.