Estate Planning Overview
A Complete Guide to Planning Ahead
While nobody wants to think about incapacity or death, establishing an estate plan is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones. It puts you in control and spares your family expense, delay, and frustration.
For nearly 30 years, Attorney Todd Rosenfield has helped families throughout Westborough, Worcester County, and MetroWest Boston plan with confidence.
Our Approach
Estate Planning Is a Blueprint for Your Future
Estate planning isn't just for the wealthy, and it's about much more than estate taxes. At Socius Law Firm, we believe it's a process where you design a blueprint that lets you:
Keep control of your property while you're alive and well
Decide how you and your loved ones will be cared for if you become incapacitated
Direct how your assets are managed, used, and passed on after your death
Minimize taxes, professional fees, and court costs for your family
It's typically accomplished through a set of documents, but it's really about making informed decisions and thoughtful choices, so that if you become incapacitated or pass away, things transition the way you'd hope, with minimal disruption and little or no court involvement.
What a Complete Plan Covers
Four Goals of a Complete Estate Plan
Planning for Incapacity
If you become incapacitated, your spouse or adult children can't automatically manage your finances. Without the right documents, they must petition the Probate Court, a lengthy, costly, and stressful process that can require reporting to the court every year.
A durable power of attorney, health care proxy, and living will let the people you trust step in immediately and carry out your wishes for both your finances and your medical care.
Avoiding Probate
If you leave your estate using a Will, everything in your name alone passes through probate, which is expensive, time-consuming, and public, with the Probate Court in control until the estate is settled.
Assets can be frozen for weeks or months, and a surviving spouse may have to ask the court for money to cover living expenses. With proper planning, your assets can pass to your loved ones quickly, inexpensively, and privately.
Protecting Minor Children
Choose a guardian who shares your values, and consider their age and financial situation. You can name a different person as trustee of your children's inheritance to create checks and balances, and plan for the possibility of both parents passing at the same time.
You can also decide whether your children receive assets outright or in trust, distributed based on age, need, or milestones like education. Too often, children receive substantial assets before they're mature enough to handle them.
Minimizing Estate Taxes
A simple Will doesn't include provisions for federal or Massachusetts estate tax planning, and Massachusetts taxes estates of $2 million or more, a threshold many families reach with their home, retirement accounts, and life insurance.
Attorney Rosenfield uses a range of strategies to minimize, or even eliminate, estate taxes, so more of what you've built goes to your family and the causes you care about.
Next Steps
Explore Your Options
All Estate Planning Services →
Every service, in one place.
Wills →
The starting point of every estate plan.
Our Estate Planning Process →
Our six-step process, from your first meeting to signing.
Estate Planning Packages →
Four levels of planning, each tailored to your family.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions Our Clients Often Ask
Who needs an estate plan?
Everyone. Estate planning isn't just for the wealthy; whatever the size of your estate, a plan keeps you in control, protects the people you love, and spares them unnecessary cost and delay. See why you need a plan.
What documents are in an estate plan?
A complete plan typically includes a Revocable Living Trust or Will, durable powers of attorney, a health care proxy, and a living will, plus a Kids' Safeguard Plan for families with minor children. See our estate planning packages.
How often should I update my estate plan?
Review your plan every few years, and after major life events such as a marriage, divorce, birth, death in the family, move, or significant change in your assets, so it continues to work the way you intend.
Your Estate Planning Attorney
Todd Rosenfield, Esq.
Estate Planning, Elder Law & Probate Attorney · Socius Law Firm
Todd Rosenfield has advised Massachusetts families on estate planning and probate since 1997. From the firm’s Westborough office, he focuses his practice on estate planning, elder law and MassHealth planning, and probate for families throughout Worcester County and MetroWest. Read Todd’s full bio.
Get Started
Put a Complete Plan in Place
Schedule a free consultation, and you'll work directly with Attorney Rosenfield to design a plan around your family and your goals.