As people move through their lives, making sure children are fed and work is taken care of, planning a trust, an estate, or a will might seem unimportant. But one way or another, people’s lives come into contact with these overwhelming but crucial legal contracts, and experts say it’s always better to be prepared. “A […]
As people move through their lives, making sure children are fed and work is taken care of, planning a trust, an estate, or a will might seem unimportant.
But one way or another, people’s lives come into contact with these overwhelming but crucial legal contracts, and experts say it’s always better to be prepared.
Anne Grenier, officer and attorney at Fletcher Tilton
“A lot of times I find with my clients, they're dealing with their own parents. They say, ‘I had no idea. I should start planning. I need a healthcare proxy, power of attorney, or a HIPPA release. I need to have a will, to have a trust,” said Anne Grenier, officer and attorney at Worcester law firm Fletcher Tilton. “When you hit that middle age point, caregiving duties are slowing down, and people start thinking, ‘Hey what happens to my money? How should this go? Where do I want it to go?'”
Setting up a trust, estate, or will to protect assets can prevent lengthy court battles or family strife after a loved one’s passing. Most people don’t think about it until they come into contact with a situation firsthand, or they don’t want to think about it because it’s too emotional.
But this type of planning can just be for peace of mind.
Elizabeth Newton, partner at Mirick
“If you come into my office and sign an estate plan document, hopefully you won’t need it for a long time,” said Elizabeth Newton, a partner at Worcester law firm Mirick. “The analogy I use is, it’s like an umbrella. If you have one, it won’t rain.”
What are trusts, wills, and estates?
An estate is a compilation of someone’s assets, like money or a home, and wills are used to decide what happens to someone’s estate when they die, Grenier said. A trust can be a beneficiary of someone’s will, or an entirely separate entity for asset storage.
“If your assets are in a trust and you pass, trustees would figure out how to distribute funds upon your passing,” Grenier said. “Or a trust could say ‘Upon my death, just distribute it.’ In that circumstance, you don't have to go to the probate court.”
To sign estate planning documents, a person has to be at least 18 years old, Newton said. In the past few years, Newton said more and more parents are bringing their college-aged children in to sign documents making a parent their healthcare proxy, or the person who makes healthcare decisions for a person if they’re unable to do it themselves.
People start building wills and trusts when they become parents, because they need to name a guardian for their children in case something happens to them. As their kids age, people might come back to their wills and update them because by then they’ve usually accumulated assets, Newton said.
The last big trigger in life comes when people are around 70 years old. By then, they’re concerned about preserving and protecting their assets before they go into a nursing home.
Avoiding exploitation
The kind of trust someone goes with depends on their goals. For example, if a trust is set aside for a child with special needs, it’s a place to keep money in a way that doesn’t interfere with government benefits.
“Say there was an inheritance, given to someone with Down syndrome on MassHealth, and they can’t have more than $2,000 in assets,” Grenier said. “We can say to the court, ‘Please let us do a special conservatorship.’ We’d transfer the funds into a special needs trust. Otherwise, those funds would knock them off MassHealth.”
Appointing a healthcare proxy can allow seniors to have someone they trust advocate for them if they’re incapacitated, Grenier said.
Courts are not really set up to determine whether or not an arrangement is beneficial for the person who needs care, Grenier said, so if someone wants control over what they think is best for them, it’s best to appoint a person ahead of time.
“I was involved in a case where this person’s neighbor applied to be a healthcare proxy and power of attorney. The court never did a thorough search for family, and this person basically financially exploited that person,” she said. “It’s really important to have these plans, to think about it. Even if they do a court-appointed guardian, lawyer, or organization, they're going to do what's expedient.”
These issues can be highly emotional, but they are essential, Newton said. Because they’re emotional, it’s important to pick a trustee who is level-headed and will be able to take feelings out of the equation when the time comes.
Sometimes people don’t want to think about something happening to themselves, their parents, or their children, but Newton and Grenier said it’s always better to be prepared.
“We all think it’s never going to happen to me or my family, but it does. One way or another, it does,” Grenier said.
The last big trigger in life comes when people are around 70 years old. By then, they’re concerned about preserving and protecting their assets before they go into a nursing home.
