When it comes to your estate plan, the law seeks to protect and carry out your intentions with respect to the disposition of your property upon your death. But Massachusetts law may dictate a different outcome if you leave your spouse out of your will. In Massachusetts, like many other states, the elective share statute aims to prevent one from disinheriting a spouse.

The elective share statute permits a surviving spouse to set aside their deceased spouse’s will and instead claim a statutorily-defined portion of the deceased spouse’s probate estate. Depending on the existence of descendants of either or both spouses, parents of the decedent, and/or other close family members of the decedent, the surviving spouse may claim an amount ranging from one-third of the probate estate to $25,000 plus one-half of the remaining estate. A portion of that share may be received as a life estate in the subject property.

Unfortunately, in many circumstances, the elective share statute misses its mark in achieving a fair and equitable outcome for the surviving spouse. For example, the current statutory scheme fails to take into account the length of the marriage, thereby treating a recent marriage exactly the same as 40-year … Keep reading

Last month I reviewed how to approach the extremely important decision of choosing a guardian for your minor children. Let’s now look at some vehicles for ensuring financial stability for your children in the event of your passing, which is particularly important if you are divorced. The options outlined below may already be familiar to you; hopefully, this information can help get you started on deciding which may be a good fit for your circumstances. Keep in mind any special considerations, such as setting aside money specifically for education or medical expenses, your child’s age and ability to manage money, or any special needs for which you need to account. Weigh these in conjunction with the ease and expense of setting up and administering each option.

Establish a Trust. A trust is undoubtedly the best vehicle for managing and protecting your children’s assets. A trust can be structured in numerous ways to accommodate your specific intentions. The trustee you name can provide asset management and decision-making in accordance with the parameters you specify.  Distributions of trust assets to your child can be limited to specific purposes like education and health expenses, or you can give the trustee broad … Keep reading

If you find yourself lucky in love after a divorce, you have myriad considerations when deciding whether to remarry. If you have children from your prior marriage that you would like to provide for, I recommend that updating your estate plan be top of mind. A carefully crafted estate plan can function to provide for both your children and new spouse in a way that meets your goals.

Trusts are perhaps the most common estate planning tool used to protect assets and benefit different people. For married couples in particular, a qualified terminable interest property (“QTIP”) trust allows a spouse to enjoy access to assets held in trust during his or her lifetime while limiting the spouse’s ability to control the disposition of those assets after his or her death. This is an effective tool for providing your spouse access to assets for the duration of his or her life while preserving the remainder for your children after his or her death. You may also utilize a QTIP trust in conjunction with other trusts or estate planning vehicles to divide your assets.

Additional advantages to QTIP trusts include qualification for the unlimited marital deduction from state and federal estate … Keep reading