Massachusetts estate planning

A complete estate plan, without the office visits.

Answer a guided interview from your phone in about twenty minutes. An attorney reads every answer, meets with you on video, and your trust, will, and directives arrive ready to sign.

Start your plan Find your plan
  • An attorney reads every answer
  • Plans from $500, flat and in writing
  • Deed to your home prepared and recorded
  • Funding tracked until it is done

The interview saves as you go and resumes on any device. Attorney review and a video meeting are part of every plan.

  1. Step oneAnswer the interviewAbout twenty minutes on your phone. Your answers save as you go.
  2. Step twoReview with your attorneyYour attorney reads every answer, then talks through your plan with you on video.
  3. Step threeConfirm your drafted planGo over each document with your attorney. Confirm it, or ask for changes.
  4. Step fourSign your planA signing ceremony with a notary and witnesses, at a time that works for you.
Without a plan

What the court does when you leave it to the court.

If you die owning things in your own name, your family cannot just take them over. Someone has to ask the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court for authority, and the court process sets the timetable.

A year, at least

Massachusetts gives creditors a full year from the date of death to bring claims, so most estates stay open at least that long, on the court's calendar.

On the public record

What you owned, what it was worth, who receives it, and the addresses of everyone involved become filings that any person can walk in and read.

A judge chooses

With no will naming them, the court picks a guardian for your children if neither parent is living, and a conservator for their money. Each child receives their share outright at eighteen.

See who inherits if you do nothing

With no will, Massachusetts law decides who inherits and in what shares. For a married couple it decides twice: when the first of you dies, and again when the second does.

If you are married, count everything the two of you own. Leave out retirement accounts and life insurance, which pass by beneficiary form.
Are you married?

Start with the first question.The split appears here as you answer, worked out the way the Probate and Family Court would work it out.

General information about Massachusetts law when there is no will, under chapter 190B of the General Laws, not legal advice about your estate. It assumes no one has a will and a surviving spouse does not remarry, unless a note says otherwise. Retirement accounts and life insurance pass by beneficiary form and are not counted. Nothing you enter is saved or sent.

With a will aloneA year, often more, on the public record.
  1. PetitionA family member asks the court to open the estate and appoint a personal representative.
  2. Notice and the creditor yearHeirs and creditors are notified, and the estate waits out the one year claim period.
  3. Inventory and accountingWhat you owned and what it was worth are filed where anyone can read them.
  4. DistributionAfter the claim period and the paperwork, your family receives what you left them.
With a funded trustNo petition. No public file.
  1. Your trustee steps inThe person you named takes over the day they are needed. Nothing is filed with the court.
  2. Everything is already titledThe house, the accounts, and the beneficiary forms all point where you decided.
  3. Private, on your termsYour family sees the plan. The public does not. Children inherit on the schedule you set.

A revocable trust, funded properly, keeps your family out of court and your details private, and lets you choose who acts and when children inherit. Funded properly is the part this plan is built around.

What you receive

Everything a complete plan needs.

Each document is drafted under Massachusetts law from your answers, then reviewed by the attorney before it reaches you.

  • i
    Revocable living trustjoint for married couples, with estate tax provisions when your numbers call for them
  • ii
    Pour over willwith your guardianship nominations for minor children
  • iii
    Durable power of attorneysomeone you chose handles finances if you cannot
  • iv
    Health care proxyyour medical voice, with a HIPAA authorization so the people you choose can get information
  • v
    Assignment of personal propertyyour belongings are trust property from day one
  • vi
    Personal property memorandumwho receives which keepsake, changeable any time without a lawyer
  • vii
    Deed to your homeprepared and recorded for you, so the trust owns the house

Every document comes with a plain language summary of what was chosen, what it means, and what the other options were.

After you sign

The part that makes the trust work.

A signed trust that owns nothing protects nothing. Everything below comes with your plan and stays available to you after the signing.

Your plan on one page

A single picture of what you own, the trust that holds it, where it goes, and who acts for you. Written for your family to read, not for a lawyer.

✓Your homedeed recorded
✓Bank accountsretitled
Retirement accountsbeneficiary form
Life insurancebeneficiary form

Funding, tracked to done

Every asset that has to move into the trust or point to it, listed with who does it and whether it is finished. We prepare and record the deed on your home ourselves.

Your plan
Interviewdone
Attorney reviewdone
Drafts readythis week
Signingto schedule
Fundingafter signing

A portal that stays open

Your documents, your dates, and messages with your attorney, all on your phone. Sign in with your email and a six digit code. Nothing to remember.

Sixty seconds

Which plan fits your family?

Four quick questions. You get the plan and the fee that fit, and the reasons why. Nothing here is saved or sent anywhere.

Who is the plan for?

Transparent pricing

Plans from $500. Flat, in writing, before you commit.

You will know your fee before you pay anything. No hourly billing, no surprises at signing. Half is due when you accept the engagement letter and drafting begins; the balance is due at your signing.

Start with the essentials

Essentials plan

$500or $750 for a couple
  • A will
  • A durable power of attorney
  • A health care proxy
  • Attorney review of every document
  • A consult on whether a trust fits
Start with essentials

Just a will

$275
  • A will, reviewed by your attorney
  • Names who settles your estate
  • Nominates a guardian for minor children
Start with a will

Move up anytime. What you paid for the essentials plan counts toward your trust plan, and your will is redone at no charge.

Trust plans

Single person plan

$3,000
  • Revocable living trust
  • Pour over will
  • Power of attorney, health care proxy, HIPAA
  • Attorney review and video meeting
  • Deed to your home, prepared and recorded
  • Funding instructions and tracking
Start your plan
One interview, both spouses

Married couple plan

$4,000for both of you
  • Joint revocable trust
  • Pour over wills for each spouse
  • Full ancillary documents for each spouse
  • One interview covers the whole household
  • Attorney review and video meeting
  • Deed, funding instructions, and tracking
Start your plan

Estate tax plan

$7,000
  • Everything in the couple plan
  • Credit shelter trust architecture
  • Massachusetts estate tax reduction design
  • Extended planning session with the attorney

For households near or above the $2,000,000 Massachusetts threshold.

Start your plan

Some situations deserve their own conversation: a child with special needs, long term care concerns, significant or complex assets. The interview recognizes these and the attorney quotes those plans personally after review. Recording fees for your deed are billed at actual cost with no markup.

Jeffrey T. Stinson, Esq., Massachusetts estate planning attorney
Your attorney

Jeffrey T. Stinson, Esq.

Estate planning

I practice estate planning in Massachusetts, and I built WisePath around a step that is easy to miss. A trust only works if the house and the accounts are moved into it after the signing. If they are not, the family can end up in the courthouse anyway.

So every plan here carries the same two commitments. I read your answers myself before a single document is drafted, and your funding is tracked item by item until the plan is real rather than filed away in a drawer.

Admitted in Massachusetts Trusts, wills, and directives Estate tax planning

You are hiring a lawyer who built his own tools, not a website that happens to have a lawyer.

Verify my admission with the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers
Learn

Plain answers, free to read.

Guides and short lessons on Massachusetts estate planning, written by our attorney. No advice, no pressure, no sign up.

BasicsProbate in Massachusetts, explainedWhat the court does, how long it takes, and what passes outside it. TrustsWhat a revocable living trust doesControl while you live, a smooth handoff after, and what it cannot do. CareLong term care and MassHealthWhy it is confusing, and where to start.

Explore the learning center

Questions

Asked often, answered plainly.

Do I actually need a trust?
Not everyone does, and the process is honest about it. A trust keeps your family out of probate court, keeps your affairs private, and controls how and when children inherit. The interview gathers your situation, the attorney reviews it, and you get a straight recommendation before you pay for anything.
Is a real attorney involved?
Yes, on every file. An attorney reads your answers before anything is drafted, flags anything that needs a conversation, meets with you on video, and reviews the final documents with you. The interview replaces the questionnaire and the data entry, not the lawyer.
How long does it take?
The interview takes about twenty minutes, and most people finish in one sitting. From there, attorney review, your meeting, and drafting typically bring you to signing within a few weeks.
What if my situation is complicated?
Complicated is normal. Blended families, children with special needs, estate tax exposure, long term care worries: the interview is built to recognize all of it and route your file to the attorney for a personal conversation and quote rather than forcing you into a package.
I already have a will. Is that enough?
A will alone still goes through probate, and an older will may name people or choices that no longer fit. Bring what you have. The review covers whether your existing plan still does what you think it does.
I already have a trust. Do I start over?
Usually not, but bring it. Older trusts often predate the 2023 change to the Massachusetts estate tax, name people who have moved on, or were never funded in the first place. The review tells you whether to update it, replace it, or simply finish funding it.
Can I change my plan later?
Yes. The trust is revocable, so while you are living and able you can amend it, add to it, or revoke it. Most changes are a short amendment you ask for through the portal. Who receives which keepsake lives in the personal property memorandum, which you can update yourself without a lawyer.
What about retirement accounts and life insurance?
They usually pass by beneficiary designation rather than by deed or retitling, so your funding list tells you exactly what to name on each form, and why. Retirement accounts carry income tax consequences for the people who inherit them, which is one of the things the attorney reviews with you before you decide.
Is my information private?
Your answers sit in an encrypted database that only your attorney and the staff on your matter can open, and they are never sold or shared. It is the same duty of confidentiality that applies in any law office. It is also one of the quieter reasons to use a trust: what the trust holds and who receives it does not become a court filing.
What if I own property in another state?
That is one of the strongest reasons to use a trust. Property held in your own name in a second state usually means a second probate there, on top of the one at home. A funded trust holds both, and the interview asks about out of state property so the plan and the deeds are handled together.
Do you work with people outside Massachusetts?
WisePath is a Massachusetts law firm, and every plan is drafted under Massachusetts law for people who live here. If you live in Massachusetts and own property somewhere else, that property is handled inside your plan.
What happens at the signing?
You sign in person with the attorney, a notary, and two witnesses, all arranged for you. Massachusetts requires witnesses for a will and a health care proxy, and banks and the Registry of Deeds expect notarized signatures on the rest. You leave with a signed plan, and the funding list starts that day.
Where do we meet?
The interview and the review meeting happen from wherever you are, on your phone or computer. Signing happens in person in Massachusetts, with a notary and witnesses arranged for you, at a time and place confirmed with you after your drafts are final.

Something else on your mind? Send a note and we reply within one business day.

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