Estate planning is vital to your family’s financial well-being. Creating a will and any necessary trusts can reduce your tax burden while providing for your family and ensuring that your wishes are carried out after your death. THORNTON LAW OFFICE can help you set priorities and put the essential documents in place.

There are many reasons why you may wish to include one or more trusts in your estate plan. While a will provides for direct distribution of your assets, a trust is a way to hold property for the benefit of another person. The creator of the trust designates a person known as the trustee to manage and distribute the assets for a beneficiary. When a trust is created by a will, it is known as a testamentary trust. Your will can direct that some assets be distributed directly, and others be put into trust. This may be useful when you have heirs who cannot manage the money on their own, for instance because they are too young or because of a disability. In your will, you can instruct a trustee to manage funds responsibly and make appropriate distributions to the beneficiary. Trusts can also be created during your lifetime. A revocable living trust can be formed while you are alive to allow a trusted person to manage your affairs, even if you become incapacitated. You can also place your major assets in such a trust, so that your trustee can distribute them according to your instructions directly from the trust after your death, without the need to wait for the process of probating your will.

You need a will to direct the distribution of your assets. When you create a will, you decide who receives what, and you also control factors such as who the executor of your estate will be. If you die without a will, state law determines how your estate will be divided, and it may not be what you would have chosen. Massachusetts’s law of intestate succession provides a single set of rules that are followed in every case of a person who dies “intestate,” or without a will. These rules are the government’s attempt to distribute a deceased person’s assets in a sensible way, to their close family members. However, this “one size fits all” method does not allow you to choose what will work best for your family’s unique needs. The first step in the process of creating a will is to take a thorough inventory of your assets. You will need to know the fair market value of any real estate you own, and you should also consider how certain resources are titled. For instance, if you have an account with a designated beneficiary, those funds will pass directly to that individual, outside of your estate.

Don’t put unnecessary burdens on your family, plan now for the events you can’t predict. Properly drafted advance health care directives are especially crucial. In a medical emergency, the choices to be made can be overwhelming. Don’t leave your loved ones struggling to come to consensus on your unexpressed wishes while they are absorbing the emotional impact of an accident or illness.

A properly drafted durable power of attorney ensures that you control who makes legal and financial decisions for you if you become incapacitated. Often, in medical emergencies, families focus all their energy and time on medical decisions — as they should. Yet life outside the hospital room doesn’t slow down, and often there are legal and financial issues that remain unaddressed until the medical crisis passes, which results in the loss of valuable assets and unrecoverable time.

THORNTON LAW OFFICE stands ready with answers, advice and assistance in drafting your advance directives. These are difficult issues, and you should consult your family beforehand or bring them along to the consultation.