Estate Planning
Experienced Melrose Estate Planning Lawyer for Middlesex County, Essex County, Massachusetts
Tramontozzi Law offers a full range of services to help you with your estate planning needs. It is never too early or too late to start planning for the future. Whether you just need to make sure your house and retirement funds get passed on safely; are a business owner or an experienced professional with a substantial estate; or a young person or couple seeking to plan for the future, formulating an estate plan can quickly become an incredibly complex process that requires knowledge and experience to ensure that that your plans include the necessary legal instruments to guarantee that your wishes are carried out properly.
John Tramontozzi will formulate an estate plan that streamlines the probate process for your heirs while maintaining privacy. Our wide array of estate planning services includes:
Trusts
- Irrevocable Trust: A trust that typically cannot be modified once created, often used for tax planning and to protect the proceeds of life insurance policies
- Revocable Trust: A trust that allows your beneficiaries to avoid the probate process while providing flexibility for use and disposition of your assets during your life. We take the time to inform you about the many available options in planning your individual estate plan
Wills
- Simple Will: Appropriate in certain circumstances, such as estates involving few assets of modest value, often resulting in a simplified probate administration
- Complex Will: Often includes provisions for testamentary trusts or provisions for beneficiaries who are minors, and allows for tax planning without use of a revocable trust
- Pour Over Will: Works in conjunction with a revocable trust by providing for disposition of assets not originally included under the revocable trust
- Health care proxies
- Charitable giving
- Living wills, advance directives
- Probate administration
- Probate litigation
- Succession planning
In Massachusetts, certain health conditions–whether caused by an accident, cancer, Alzheimer’s or other debilitating condition like dementia–can result in you or a loved one being deemed legally incapable of making critical financial and healthcare related decisions. If this occurs, you need documentation in place which provides someone else with the authority to make these decisions on your behalf and in accordance with your wishes. This can be done through a revocable trust, power of attorney, or advanced health care directive, or through seeking and obtaining legal guardianship.
We also represent individuals who have been named executor (also known as personal representative) of a will, assisting in the commencement of the probate process which is often overwhelming for families in time of grief.. We can assist clients with the collection of assets, preparation of inventory, estate tax matters, creditor actions and the distribution of assets to heirs.
Due to extended life expectancies, more people face the possibility of needing some sort of assisted living. We can help seniors and the children of senior citizens address the legal issues related to long-term care, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans benefits and other retirement issues.
To learn more about these options and decide which documents and course of action your families need most, consult with John Tramontozzi by contacting us today. John is experienced in assisting families through the process of estate planning and distribution and his respectful and considered handling of your personal legal matters will ensure that you are your loved cans feel assured that your wishes are respected.