Question: My parent placed her Massachusetts vacation home in a revocable realty trust and included her two living adult children and herself in this trust. She apparently did this to avoid [...]

Question: As a practical matter, how would Massachusetts determine the amount of taxable gifts for estate tax purposes since gifts in small but taxable amounts could have been given over the [...]

Question: I’m hoping you can explain a bit about QTIP trusts. My father passed away and his trust divides his assets between a credit shelter trust and a marital trust (mother is still [...]

Question: Assuming a couple with a Massachusetts joint taxable estate of $5 million, I see how you say to use a trust for the benefit of surviving spouse with $1 million (where surviving spouse [...]

Question: I have elderly parents who are looking to update their revocable trust into an irrevocable one. They would just like to put their 2 homes (their primary residence & an investment [...]

Question: My entire estate is worth about $6 million. I am now single and a legal resident of Florida. I still own a home in Massachusetts (worth $300,000). I stay at the Massachusetts home for [...]

Question: When my children will need to pay a Massachusetts estate tax after my death, will that deductible come from their federal income taxes? I read somewhere that it will. Response: No. [...]

Question: A gift of an existing life insurance policy within 3 years of death is included in the gross estate and taxable at the federal level. It is also included in the Massachusetts gross [...]

Question: I live in Massachusetts. Say my estate is about $1.2 million, my case. So I gift my daughter $300,000 cash and file a form 709 gift tax return. The excess over $15,000 reduces my [...]

Question: My wife passed away. In simple terms, how does one figure or include items to determine the Massachusetts estate tax? I believe there is a $1 million exemption. Response: I’m [...]