Working with lawyers and tax experts in your estate plan is very important. A team of lawyers will assist in drafting estate planning documents, and working with tax experts can help you resolve estate-related tax issues. A professional team can help you understand the complex impact of each option. And to help you clearly communicate your wishes, avoid mistakes, minimize taxes, and adjust your plan as time goes by or your situation changes. In addition, it is very important to consider how each asset will be transferred to your beneficiaries. Each case may vary depending on asset type, asset size, age, or many other factors.

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What Does a Will Include in Massachusetts?

A Simple or Basic Estate Planning includes the creation of some or all of the following legal documents:

• Durable Power of Attorney allows the creator to appoint another person to stand in place of the creator. It is a very powerful and far-reaching document and the creator should only appoint a very trustworthy individual. This document is designed to withstand the incapacity of the creator.

• Health Care Proxy appoints another person as an agent to make decisions regarding the health care of the creator when the creator can no longer make those decisions for himself. This is especially important when the decision involves the continuation of life-preserving medical procedures. The more recent proxies also include the ability of the appointed health care agent to access the creator’s medical records.

• Declaration of Homestead tells the world that the client owns and resides at his place of principal residence and is claiming the full protection allowed under M.G.L. C. 188. This protection essentially shields the home from a judgment-induced sale.

• Last Will and Testament can control the distribution of the assets of the creator once deceased. The document usually names the executor, the guardians for minors if necessary, grants powers to the executor to effectively operate the estate of the deceased and waive surety on bonds. Our Massachusetts estate planning lawyer can increase the level of sophistication if the circumstances so dictate by creating these additional documents.

• Last Will and Testament with a Testamentary Trust provides greater control of the assets and protects the heirs of the deceased from their creditors.

• Revocable or Irrevocable Trusts can be used, depending upon the particular circumstances of the client, to maximize the amount of the estate available for future distribution to the spouse, children, and future generations and to minimize the burden of estate taxes, especially on the surviving spouse. Additionally, if there are special needs to address or disability benefits to protect, a trust can be created to achieve them.

• Asset Transfers and Protection can be used to help clients more effectively pass their assets on to their families both during their lives and, if necessary, posthumously as well.

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Blumsack & Canzano, P.C. provides comprehensive services related to inheritance law, wills, probate, and estate management:

1. Draft a will and register it in the court.

2. Provide advice on issues of will and inheritance law.

3. As the executor or administrator, ensure the safe preservation of the will until it is necessary to execute the will.

4. Prepare documents for the probate and execute the probate procedures.