Every family has a unique story, and every estate plan should reflect it. Whether you are protecting young children, preserving wealth for the next generation, planning for a family business, or preparing for life’s unexpected events, thoughtful estate planning gives you greater control over the decisions that matter most. At Ligris, our Massachusetts estate planning attorneys help individuals and families create practical, tax-conscious plans designed around their goals, assets, and values.
Plan With Confidence
No two families or financial situations are alike. Your estate plan should be just as personal. We take the time to understand your family, your assets, your priorities, and the legacy you want to leave behind before recommending a planning strategy.
A comprehensive estate plan can address who receives your assets, who will manage them, who can make financial and healthcare decisions if you become unable to do so, and how children or other beneficiaries should be protected. We prepare wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, durable powers of attorney, healthcare proxies, and other planning documents tailored to those decisions.
Putting the right plan in place today can help reduce uncertainty tomorrow. Thoughtful planning may also minimize unnecessary probate, protect assets, address estate tax exposure, and make it easier for your family to carry out your wishes during a difficult time.
Protect What You Have Built
For clients with significant assets, closely held businesses, real estate holdings, or multigenerational wealth, estate planning often requires more than a will. We advise on sophisticated trust and wealth-transfer strategies designed to preserve assets, manage tax exposure, and provide greater control over how and when wealth passes to future generations.
Depending on your circumstances, that planning may involve revocable or irrevocable trusts, life insurance trusts, special needs trusts, charitable planning, family limited partnerships, lifetime gifting strategies, asset protection planning, or business succession planning. Our goal is not complexity for its own sake. It is to identify the strategies that best serve your family, financial, and business objectives.
Keep Your Plan Current
An estate plan should evolve as your life does. Marriage or divorce, the birth of a child or grandchild, the purchase or sale of a business, retirement, a significant change in assets, a move, or changes in tax laws can all affect an existing plan. We help clients review and update their estate planning documents so the plan in place continues to reflect their current wishes and circumstances.
Guide Your Family Through Probate and Trust Administration
After the loss of a loved one, families are often asked to manage unfamiliar legal, tax, and financial responsibilities while they are grieving. Our probate and estate administration attorneys guide personal representatives, trustees, and beneficiaries through the process, from court filings and asset collection to creditor issues, tax matters, distributions, and the final administration of an estate or trust.
We work to make the process as clear and efficient as possible while helping fiduciaries understand and satisfy their responsibilities. When appropriate, our attorneys are also available to serve as trustee and/or trust protector in administering trust assets.
Our Trusts & Estates practice advises on:
- Estate planning and estate plan reviews
- Wills
- Revocable trusts
- Irrevocable trusts
- Special needs trusts
- Life insurance trusts
- Charitable trusts and charitable planning
- Family limited partnerships
- Durable powers of attorney and healthcare proxies
- Lifetime gifting and wealth-transfer strategies
- Asset protection planning
- Massachusetts and federal estate tax planning
- Business succession planning
- Probate and estate administration
- Trust administration
- Trustee and trust protector services
Why Ligris for Trusts & Estates?
Your estate plan is personal. The advice behind it should be, too. We build long-term relationships with clients by taking the time to understand not only their assets, but also their families, priorities, concerns, and long-term goals. The result is planning that is thoughtful, practical, and designed to work in the real world.
Our Trusts & Estates practice is led by Greg Racki, Ligris’s Director of Estate Planning, who has practiced in the field since 2006. Greg is a member of the Boston University School of Law faculty, where he teaches Trusts & Estates and Estate Planning & Drafting, and is a member of the Boston Trusts and Estates Consortium. He has been recognized by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as a “Go To Lawyer” in Trusts & Estates and was recognized in the 2026 edition of Massachusetts Super Lawyers for Estate Planning & Probate.
Estate planning often intersects with tax, business ownership, real estate, and family matters. When it does, our Trusts & Estates attorneys collaborate seamlessly with colleagues across Ligris and Ligris Tax Services to provide coordinated guidance that considers the full picture and supports the efficient transfer and preservation of wealth.
FAQs
When should I create or update an estate plan?
It is never too early to create an estate plan. Marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, purchasing a home, starting or selling a business, retirement, a significant change in assets, or changes in tax law are all good reasons to create a plan or review an existing one.
Do I need an estate plan if I am not wealthy?
Yes. Estate planning is about much more than estate taxes. A plan can identify who receives your property, nominate fiduciaries, provide for children or other beneficiaries, and authorize trusted people to make financial and healthcare decisions if you become incapacitated.
What documents are commonly included in a Massachusetts estate plan?
Every plan is different, but common estate planning documents include a will, one or more trusts, a durable power of attorney, and a healthcare proxy. Additional trusts and planning strategies may be appropriate depending on your assets, family circumstances, tax exposure, and long-term goals.
Do I need a will, a trust, or both?
That depends on your goals, assets, and family situation. A will directs the disposition of probate assets and can address important fiduciary and family decisions. A properly funded trust can provide additional privacy and control, help certain assets avoid probate, and create ongoing protections for beneficiaries. Many comprehensive estate plans use both.
What happens if I die without a will in Massachusetts?
If you die without a valid will, Massachusetts intestacy law determines who inherits property that passes through your probate estate. The result is based on a statutory formula and may not reflect your wishes. A properly prepared estate plan allows you to make those decisions in advance rather than leaving them to the default rules of state law.
What is probate, and can an estate plan help avoid it?
Probate is the court-supervised process used to administer certain assets after a person’s death. Depending on how assets are titled and how an estate plan is structured, trusts and other planning techniques may allow some assets to pass outside probate. Avoiding probate is not the only goal of estate planning, but it can be an important consideration for many families.
Does Massachusetts have an estate tax?
Yes. Massachusetts imposes a state estate tax on certain estates, separate from the federal estate tax system. Because estate tax laws and thresholds can change, clients with substantial assets should periodically review their plans and consider whether tax-planning strategies are appropriate for their circumstances.
Can Ligris help administer an estate or trust after someone dies?
Yes. We advise personal representatives, trustees, and beneficiaries through probate, estate administration, and trust administration, including court filings, asset transfers, fiduciary responsibilities, and distributions. When appropriate, our attorneys can also serve as trustee and/or trust protector.
How does estate planning work with tax, business, and real estate planning?
These issues frequently overlap. Business ownership, real estate, retirement assets, tax considerations, and family circumstances can all affect an estate plan. Our multidisciplinary approach allows us to coordinate with Ligris attorneys and Ligris Tax Services when a client’s planning requires integrated legal and tax guidance.