Massachusetts Estate Tax Alert: Exemption Increases To $2 Million October 5, 2023 Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends: We are pleased to report that yesterday, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed a law increasing the estate tax exemption from $1 million to $2 million. This is the first increase in the exemption since 2006. Important points for you to know are as follows: This tax law change applies to you if you are a Massachusetts resident. In the past, $1 million was exempt from estate tax. However, it was a so-called “cliff” tax so that if you had $1.00 in excess of $1 million, you w ..read more

The employee handbook remains an important tool for businesses to define their policies and procedures. It’s a way to protect the company and minimize the risk of potential lawsuits. Along with business objectives, the handbook also addresses expectations that the company has for its employees, while also letting employees know what to expect from the company. It is important that the handbook provide that it is not a contract. The company can change any of the policies in the handbook at any time. Among the key areas to be addressed by the handbook are the following: Equal opportunity and non ..read more

Businesses face an array of legal issues. It is helpful for business leaders to prepare for these issues by having at least a basic understanding of some of the things that could go wrong. Knowing what to watch out for and, ideally, taking proactive measures to reduce the risk of a legal issue can help to better ensure business operations are not interrupted.  Some of the more common legal issues that impact and potentially interrupt a business can include: #1: Incorporation Arguably one of the most important legal decisions business owners will make is one of the earliest. Deciding wheth ..read more

Business partnerships may be long-term or short-term. The successful ones include owners who have a solid understanding of each partner’s strengths, trusting their decisions and market knowledge. However, in some instances, one of the partners chooses to leave the company.  Maybe it is to strike out on his or her own with a new vision, or because the partnership floundered and their differences got in the way. Have an operating agreement Disagreements are not uncommon among business partnerships, but you want to make sure those disagreements do not transform into disputes. Here are some t ..read more

Your concerns regarding your adult children’s inability to handle money and poor spending habits have gone on for years.  It has become a major point of contention as you create your estate plan. You want to protect those assets you leave for your children, but do you really want those assets in the hands of beneficiaries who will allow it to swiftly slip through their fingers? In such a situation, it may be wise to consider creating a trust that includes a spendthrift clause. This effective tool protects assets within the trust from beneficiaries’ creditors, but, more significantly, it a ..read more

New Year’s resolutions are an annual rite for many. Often these will include financial goals on being smarter about money. For many, this involves budgets and saving money, but it can also include creating or updating an estate plan. The death of any resolution is often an unrealistic goal, so here is a checklist of some achievable ones in 2022. Carefully respond to policy changes Amidst the economic growth after the Great Recession and fear of political uncertainty going into Obama’s reelection, some were aggressive in gifting tax-free to irrevocable trusts that they could not access. Today’s ..read more

New business partnerships often start with a sense of optimism about the future. As time passes, however, partnerships can break apart, and a partner may leave. This can damage the company, perhaps irreparably, leaving the remaining partners in financial difficulty for debts and liabilities. The departure may also damage the company’s reputation. Many partnerships resolve disputes through negotiation, arbitration or other forms of dispute resolution, but filing a lawsuit against the partner may be the best or only option.  Common grounds for a lawsuit include: Contract breach: Any valid c ..read more

Parents with blended families face some specific challenges when they create or update their estate plans. Since they are often older, there is a higher likelihood that one or both spouses have certain assets that explicitly need to go to one set of children, such as a vacation property that goes back generations on one side of the family. There also may be concerns that a surviving spouse will redirect the entire estate to just their children. Or, perhaps worse, the surviving spouse may remarry and subsequently enable that spouse to gain control of the estate. A-B Trusts often used Estate pla ..read more

Estate planning provides peace of mind knowing that an individual or couple can legally protect some assets from future creditors. To be sure, transferring an asset without getting something of similar value in return could lead to legal problems. In certain circumstances, however, individuals can transfer assets to protect them from subsequent unforeseen events. An irrevocable trust may be an option One way to avoid the appearance of fraudulent behavior is to move assets into an irrevocable trust. This involves transferring ownership of assets to the trust instead of the owner. This can work ..read more

Employers have the right to make their own personnel decisions. However, it seems that every business will have to deal with former employees who claim that they were wrongfully terminated. Even in “at-will” states, employers are prohibited from terminating an employee for legally impermissible reasons. Wrongful termination lawsuits can come as a big surprise to a business, or it may be clear from an employee’s exit that there could be trouble. Regardless of how the employee left and the reasons for the employee’s termination, employers can take several steps to protect the company against suc ..read more