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Updated: 6 hours ago Advice

10 Things I know about ... Estate planning

By Nina T. Dow
A woman in a portrait photo
Photo | Courtesy of Bowditch & Dewey
Nina T. Dow is an attorney at Bowditch & Dewey in Worcester, handling the estate, financial, and tax planning practice areas. She helps clients minimize transfer taxes, including estate and tax planning that involves charitable giving, business succession planning, the representation of corporate and individual fiduciaries, and planning for individuals with special needs.

 

10) Try to keep the peace. Families often get along until money comes into the picture. Think about how to handle real estate. It can become a major focus of expensive litigation post-mortem.

9) Have a family meeting. Ask family members their opinions about dividing your assets. That could help guide decisions and identify sources of tension.

8) Defend your wishes. If you want to give children unequal shares, explain your decision – and be ready for arguments.

7) Be creative with real estate. Think ahead about how to keep properties in the family, like sharing costs or dividing time spent. Or decide if it’s better to sell.

6) Think about the family business. If family members will inherit your business by default, think about whether it should be sold. Plan for what will happen to business partners who are not relatives.

5) Carefully choose your will’s personal representative. Fiduciaries will play a key role to make sure your estate plan gets carried out as you want.

4) Protect assets from creditors. Make sure your inheritance won’t be eaten away by family’s creditors or personal issues, such as lawsuits, divorces, or addictions. 

3) Avoid transfer taxes. Consider setting up a trust to minimize taxes or consider lifetime giving. Massachusetts imposes transfer taxes on estates valued at more than $2 million at the time of death; federal is $13.61 million. 

2) Budget for transfer taxes. Consider what assets could pay for estate taxes. You might need to sell real estate to pay for them.

1) Avoid probate. To avoid probate litigation, designate beneficiaries on retirement accounts for income tax benefits and life insurance policies. If your beneficiaries are minors or have special needs, set up a trust and name the trust as beneficiary instead.

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