Healthcare crises are the most pressing concern during everyone’s later years. Other difficult circumstances may include the loss of a job, divorce, or theft, or even problems resulting from poor …
Estate Planning Blog
Hope for the Best; Plan for the Worst.
Asset Protection During Disability and Elder Care
In the years leading up to retirement (and maybe even during retirement), you work hard to build a “nest egg.” Many factors determine whether your retirement savings are sufficient, such …
Alternatives to Paying Estate Taxes: Create a Trust for the Surviving Spouse (Couples Only)
Money passing from a deceased spouse to the surviving spouse is not taxed. But if that money remained in the surviving spouse’s estate upon his death, it would then be …
Alternatives to Paying Estate Taxes: Give Away More Money
The $14,000 gift exclusion mentioned above just means that you don’t even have to report gifts on your tax return unless you give away more than $14,000 in a year. …
Alternatives to Paying Estate Taxes: Give Gifts
There are three alternatives to paying estate taxes, but each requires some planning. Gifts of up to $14,000 per year are not taxed. Through advanced planning, you can make piecemeal …
The Massachusetts Estate Tax
Fortunately, the Massachusetts estate tax is not as high as the federal tax. It starts at.8% for assets over $40,000, and peaks at 16% for assets over $10 million. If …
Taxes You Owe After Death: Estate Taxes
The IRS levies a tax—at a rate of 40% or more—on the right to transfer property upon death. You, or, more accurately, the Administrator of your estate, must detail everything …
How Taxes Continue to Hurt in Retirement
A retired couple with a taxable income of $5,000 per month ends up, after federal taxes, with net income of about $4,119. (Massachusetts imposes an additional 5.15% state income tax, …
Taxes
Taxes is another topic that people don’t like to talk about or plan for. If you live or work in the United States, you are subject to taxation by the …
Planning for a Small Estate
Even if you have a small estate that would be exempt from Massachusetts death taxes (if the estate is worth less than $1,000,000), you may still be forced to go …