Estate planning protects your wishes, your family, and your savings. In Massachusetts, it also helps you work within state rules that affect taxes, probate, and health care decisions. Jordan & White, LLC has spent 13 years helping Massachusetts families build clear, workable plans that fit real life, not just paperwork.
Below, we share smart questions to ask before you hire an attorney. Use them to compare options, spot red flags, and feel confident that your plan will do what you want it to do.
Is Estate Planning Your Primary Area of Focus?
You want someone who spends most days on wills, trusts, probate, and related planning. That kind of focus usually means better forms, sharper advice, and fewer surprises later. It also means they are familiar with local courts and practical steps like funding a trust or recording deeds.
Ask how they keep current with Massachusetts law, including Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 190B, the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code. An attorney who tracks changes in Chapter 190B is more likely to give you practical choices that fit your goals.
How Long Have You Practiced Estate Planning Law?
Time in the field matters. Someone who has watched plans work in real families will spot issues faster and give you plain talk about tradeoffs. They have probably dealt with will challenges, tight deadlines, and probate judges across Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolk counties.
Experience with Massachusetts estate tax rules is helpful, too. The state exemption is currently $2 million, and the rules around it can affect married couples and family homes.
Do You Oversee the Execution of the Estate Plan?
There is a big difference between drafting documents and making them work. Funding a trust, updating beneficiary designations, and recording deeds at the appropriate registry of deeds are action steps, not printouts.
It is often more efficient to work with a lawyer who handles both drafting and execution. That way, the right assets get retitled, and the plan you signed actually functions when your family needs it.
Do You Conduct Periodic Reviews of Estate Plans?
Life changes, and plans should keep up. Marriage, a new child, a home sale, or a change in health can shift what you want and what the law will do with your property. Reviews help you catch gaps before they turn into problems.
Massachusetts and federal tax rules can change, too. A quick checkup every few years, or after a big life event, keeps your plan current.
What Strategies Can Be Used to Manage Estate Taxes?
Even simple steps can lower taxes and smooth transfers. Ask your attorney to explain options in plain language and show you the tradeoffs.
- Use of marital deductions and credit shelter trusts for married couples to reduce state estate taxes.
- Charitable gifts, lifetime giving, and using the annual gift exclusion to trim taxable estates.
- Review of beneficiary designations, retirement account planning, and state QTIP elections where helpful.
Good planning often blends a few of these tools. Your plan should match your goals, your family, and your mix of assets.
Can You Develop a Comprehensive Estate Plan?
Your plan should cover who gets what, who is in charge, and who can act for you if you are hurt or ill. That usually means a will, a trust when useful, and documents for both financial and medical decision-making.
Ask whether the plan will include a durable power of attorney, a Massachusetts health care proxy, HIPAA release, and instructions for long-term care decisions. You want both lifetime and after-death planning in one package.
Here is a quick look at common documents and how they work in Massachusetts.
| Document | What it does in Massachusetts | Notes |
| Will | Directs property through probate under Chapter 190B and names a personal representative. | Can name guardians for minor children. |
| Revocable Living Trust | Holds assets during life and distributes them privately without probate. | Must be funded to work. Does not avoid income or estate taxes. |
| Durable Power of Attorney | Authorizes a trusted person to manage finances if you cannot. | Often used to avoid a conservatorship. |
| Health Care Proxy | Name an agent to make medical decisions if you cannot. | Massachusetts uses a health care proxy, plus a HIPAA release. |
| HIPAA Release | Gives your agent access to medical records. | Hospitals ask for this routinely. |
| Living Will or Care Instructions | State your wishes for end-of-life care. | Often paired with an MOLST for serious illness. |
A complete plan also includes funding steps, like re-titling real estate and accounts, so the documents are more than theory.
How Do You Structure Your Fees?
Money talk should be simple and upfront. Ask how the firm charges and what the fee includes.
- Flat fee, often covering meetings, drafts, signing, and a basic funding checklist.
- Hourly billing, used for unusual assets, complex titling, or extra research.
- Hybrid, a flat fee for the core plan, then hourly for add-ons or later changes.
Also, ask about recording fees, courier costs, and notary services, so you are not surprised later.
What is Your View on Revocable Living Trusts?
Revocable living trusts can help families in Massachusetts avoid probate, keep matters private, and provide smooth management if you are sick. They can be very helpful for blended families or when you own real estate in more than one state.
These trusts do not avoid estate, inheritance, or income taxes. A good attorney will explain pros and cons, then help you decide if a trust fits your situation.
What Other Planning Issues Do You Address?
Estate planning is not only about inheritance. It is also about what happens if illness or injury makes it hard to act for yourself.
- Financial durability, through a power of attorney that banks will accept.
- Medical decision-making, using a health care proxy and HIPAA release.
- Written guidance for care choices, like a living will, and when needed, an MOLST with your doctor.
Planning for incapacity now saves time, money, and stress for the people you care about most.
How Long Will It Take to Complete My Estate Planning?
Ask for a timeline from the first meeting to signing, and what might speed things up or slow them down. Many plans wrap up in four to eight weeks once decisions are made.
Build in time to talk with your accountant or financial planner. Coordinated advice helps your plan match how your accounts are titled and taxed.
Will I Receive Estate Planning Documents to Review?
You should review drafts and ask questions before signing. Clear language is good, and you should understand every paragraph that affects your family or your property.
Confirm what can be changed later and what becomes locked in, such as clauses in an irrevocable trust. Also, ask for a funding checklist you can follow after signing.
Will Other Attorneys Be Able to Assist in Your Absence?
Life happens, even to lawyers. Ask who can answer questions if your attorney is tied up or out of the office.
A team with paralegals and associate attorneys can handle urgent tasks, like providing copies to a bank or preparing a deed for a pending sale. You deserve a backup contact and a clear path to help when you need it.
Does Your Firm Act as Trustee or Executor?
Be careful if a firm puts itself in charge of your estate or trust by default. That can create fees and tension you did not plan for.
Many families pick a trusted person or a corporate trustee after weighing costs and duties. Your attorney can still advise the chosen person without serving in that role.
What is Your Approach to Keeping the Estate Plan Current?
Ask how the firm keeps clients on track after signing. A good plan includes a schedule for checkups and easy ways to request edits when life changes.
Reviews are smart after marriage, divorce, a birth, a death in the family, a home sale, or a major change in your savings. Open communication between your attorney, your accountant, and your financial advisor helps keep everything aligned.
Contact Jordan & White, LLC Today
If you want clear answers and a plan that fits your life in Massachusetts, we are ready to help. Call 978-744-2811, or use our Contact Us page to send a message and set up a time to talk. We welcome your questions, and we will work to make the process comfortable and easy to follow.