November 5, 2025 • 15 mins
This week, Todd Lutsky explains the benefits of utilizing revocable trusts for your estate plan. Todd also takes questions for listeners about capital gains on revocable trusts and switching from a will to a trust.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Ask Todd on the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
If you have an existing estate plan or in the
market for one, Todd Lutsky is here to answer your
questions and help you plan for a later life. Ask
Todd is presented by Cushing and Dolan, serving Massachusetts and
New England for more than thirty five years, helping families
with estate and tax planning, medicaid planning, and probate law.
(00:22):
Visit Cushingdolan dot com. Now here's Todd Lutsky.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
As promised, We've got Todd Lutsky live in studio here
to answer your estate planning questions. Phone lines wide open
right now at eight eight eight to zero five two
two six three. That is the number to call to
ask Todd your estate planning questions live on air again.
It is eight eight eight two zero five two two
(00:49):
six three. Remember we can usually get to about two
or three of your calls, so make sure you get
in line early so that you can ask Todd your
estate planning questions again. That number is eight eight eight
two zero five two two six three. Mister Lutsky, how
are you doing today?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I am never better? How are you? I'm good?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Did you see that these scientists. They tried to cross
a cheetah with a crab.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
A cheetah and a crab. Yeah, that doesn't seem like
a good mix.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
No, it went sideways real fast. Yeah, not great, Todd.
Let's talk a little bit about revocable trust to day
everyone likes to talk about like the big brother, irrevocable,
like irrevocable trust, revocable trusts. Yes, what can they accomplish?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
So they can accomplish certainly, you know estate tax planning.
They can accomplish avoiding probate, and they can accomplish you know,
dynasty trust planning. They can They can allow you to
continue to control the asset after you die for a
very long time. Some states have no rule against perpetuities,
(02:04):
means it can go on forever. Not Massachusetts, of course
it allows you to do it, but only up for
about yeah, one hundred years give or take is the
rule about how long it can last. But it can
also help you skip generations, meaning you can do generations
skipping tax planning where you can take care of the family,
protect from creditors and divorces, and still make it go
(02:27):
to another generation without paying any estate tax at each generation.
So to me generational building wealth is phenomenal. And I
think also it's important when we talk about you know,
we always talk about irrevocable a lot, but with revocable,
Like with irrevocable, there are many kinds of trusts. There
are many kinds of irrevocable trusts. Even with the revocable world.
(02:49):
Now there's you know, the idea of two trusts versus
one trust, So we got to think about that as well.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Talk with Todd Lutsky from Cushing and Dolan. Again, phone
lines are open for you to ask Todd your is
date planning questions. The phone number is eight eight eight
to zero five two two six three. Again that is
eight eight eight two zero five two two six three.
Still have a little bit of space there for you
to ask Todd your questions. Again, it's eight eight eight
(03:16):
to zero five two two six three. Todd, these revocable
trusts on a daily basis, What are changes that people
would notice from how their finances worked before and what
stays the same?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, And I think that's part of the beauty of
revocable trusts is that they are really simple. You know,
you don't you don't have any separate income tax returns
to file. So let's like you say, with your finances,
Let's say I put my investment portfolio inside the trust.
Let's say I put my bank account inside the trust.
(03:53):
What's gonna happen. Am I going to not have access
to my money? Absolutely not. So the difference is the name.
Let's say, the name on my on my investment account,
if it was in my trust, would be called you know,
maybe if I'm doing a joint trust, it might be
the Lutsky Family Trust. Okay, that's all that you're gonna see.
The difference is you're gonna see that on your statements
that you get from your your you know, investment advisor,
(04:14):
and your access is exactly the same. Your investments are
exactly the same. And since that account might have the
Lutsky Family Trust as the name, it don't have my
Social Security on it. So there's no income tax returns
need to be filed. Just keep filing your own ten
forty just like you always do. So really becomes, you know,
just simple and uneventful for you, which is what we
(04:37):
want when we do our planning.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Talking with Tod Lutsky from the law firm of Cushing
and Dolan, if you've got a question for Todd. Eight
eight eight two zero five two two sixty three is
the number to call to ask him your question live
on air. Right now, we're going to take a quick
break and when we come back we'll get to your
questions with Todd. That phone number is eight eight eight
to zero five two two six three. Again it is
(05:03):
eight eight eight to zero five two two sixty three.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Ask Todd with Todd Lutsky every Wednesday at ten thirty
only here on the Financial Exchange Radio Network. Todd Letsky
answers your questions about a state and elder life planning
every Wednesday at ten thirty right here on the Financial
Exchange Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Talking with Todd Lutsky. You got a question for Todd.
The number to call is eight eight eight to zero
five two two sixty three to get your estate planning
question answered. Again, that is eight eight eight to zero
five two two six three. Let's go to Mark in Danvers. Mark,
you are on with Todd Lutsky.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Good morning, that's great show. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Question.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
You are talking about the vocable truck and you would
mentioned that the trust has no Social Security number assigned
to it. Does that mean you do not have to
pay capital gains on the trust if you put investments
in there.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Well, I'm sure there's a miscommunication on how we did that.
By the way, I love your creativity so awesome. I'd
love to figure out ways not to pay tax. Unfortunately,
what I said was that the revocable trust does not
have its own tax ID number, So you're correct about that. Instead,
like if it was the Lutzky family trust, it would
(06:33):
have my Social Security number on it. Okay. So the
beauty of the of the trust is that when you
put your investment portfolio in and your bank accounts in,
and I don't care if it's a rental property, et cetera,
that the trust itself is not going to have to
file an income tax return. So many people think that
(06:56):
you know when you put assets in a trust that
you pay higher taxes, not no taxes. They say, oh,
I heard that you put assets in a trust, you
have a much higher tax rate. So let me explain
what that means. First of all, with revocable trust that's
not the issue at all. With irrevocable trusts, it can
be if it's not a grand tour trust for income
(07:17):
tax purposes. So if you put it in an irrevocable trust,
and it's not a grand tour trust. When I say
they have higher tax rates if you make more than
and this number changes a lot, I think it's somewhere
around fourteen thousand, maybe a little higher if the trust
earns a little more than that in income, interest, dividends,
(07:39):
capital gains. It's at the top tax rate whatever, that
thirty nine percent thirty seven percent tax rate federally, whereas
with human beings our tax rate, we don't get into
that tax level until we're in the hundreds of thousands
of dollars, depending on whether you're married or so. That's
(08:01):
what I mean when I say trusts can have higher
tax rates and be compressed as they are. But in
the revocable trust situation, the beauty is we don't have
to worry about that at all. You don't have to
file a tax return. But it's not that good, unfortunately, Mark,
I wish I could make it as good as you
like it. The trust doesn't pay the gain or the
tax I do. The grant tour does. The person who
(08:24):
creates the trust does. So it just continues to be
taxed in my Social Security number, at my rates on
my tax return on my ten forty and I don't
have to file a tax return. So to me, that
helps it to be what I like to call simple
and uneventful in my life, not disrupting my life. And folks,
that's important because that really leads me into a brand
(08:44):
new guide that we've never given away before. It's one
that the BBBA passed, as we all know, and it
really just drives home something that we've been doing at
Cushing and Dolan for a long time, joint revocable trusts,
and it's catching on now. People are realizing that it
is important. And for a lot of people with you know,
what's a moderate estate these days under like fifteen million dollars,
(09:07):
the exemption federally is going to go up because of
the passage of the New Act, and it's going to
be fifteen million January one. Well, for a lot of people,
I don't have to give away stuff anymore. I can
keep stuff, avoid a forty percent estate tax, and get
a step up in basis when I die, eliminating the
built in gain that like Mark was talking about, eliminating
(09:29):
the built in gain and winning on the twenty eight
point eight percent front. Wow, even if I got to
give mass ten percent. I don't care. And these joint
revocable trusts are so simple. You don't have to divide
assets between husband and wife. You just fund them simply,
all with all your assets at one time, and you
can cram down way more assets than you could if
you had two trusts. And they're really wonderful if you
(09:51):
have large iras. Folks learn about joint revocable trusts, how
they work, the tax savings, it might be the way
to go for you. Eight six six eight four eight
five six nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com
again brand new guide eight six six eight four eight
five six nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Todd, we got another one for you here. Let's go
to Martin in Springfield. Martin, what is your question for Todd?
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Okay, my question is I filled out a will. I'm
seventy nine years old. Uh, and uh, my concern is
about probates. I'm from northern Vermont that came down here
to a senior community and so, uh, the that will
(10:44):
is done, but my concerns are probates and do I
need to get a trust? How much does a trust cost?
And uh, you're talking about revocable trust and irrevocable trust.
I have an irrevocable trust for my cremation. Uh, and so.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
So let me let me try to interject you so
I can get your question answered. The irrevocable trust for
your cremation, I'm sure has nothing. I don't think that's
an estate planning trust, correct, I don't. I don't know
what you did there, right, that's just something.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
So I don't know anything. So so you only have
a will?
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Correct that that's the extent of your estate plan. Okay,
so let's see your will. Yes. So one last question
that might be helpful is you said you came down
here to a senior community from Vermont?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Did did?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Do you own real estate in Vermont?
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Still?
Speaker 5 (11:41):
No? Okay, sold the house and from there I understand
that it was it was a real property because I
owned the land and the house here. I own the
house I lived in completely, but it's in the in
your community, and they told me that the land is
(12:03):
owned by somebody else.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Right, I got it, I understand. So basically, in these
senior communities you get to you kind of get a
place to live, but you don't own the property. I
totally get it. So that may not be an issue then,
so you may not own any real estate in Massachusetts,
which can be helpful, I guess from an avoiding probate standpoint.
So from your point of view and your question, let
me help others that are listening to if he owned
(12:28):
real estate in Vermont and in mass his question is
doubly important. I want to avoid probate because when you
own real estate in multiple states, you got to go
to probate in multiple states, even though you're not a
resident of the state in which you own real estate.
So that's important. Sounds like for you, Martin, however, there's
no Vermont real estates. I don't have to worry there,
(12:50):
And it sounds like there's probably no Massachusetts real estate
because you own it in this senior community and you
just have an interest in the house. Basically you just
have that house. Now, other assets you might own we
have to think about, which would be investments, stocks, bonds,
mutual funds, iras. So to the extent, all you want
(13:12):
to do is avoid probate, and you're not concerned about
estate tax planning or nursing home planning and protecting assets.
You can kind of do that if you have no
real estate by simply making sure these accounts all have
designated beneficiaries on them. If they do, they will pass
to those designated beneficiaries outside of probate, still subject to
(13:33):
a state tax. But if you're under two million dollars
here in mass you're not going to have any estate
tax to worry about, and that would successfully help you
avoid probate. Again, assuming no real estate. But a lot
of times and I heard you mentioned that maybe it's
an irrevocable Well, if you want to protect assets from
a nursing home, then you kind of need to think
about an irrevocable trust and putting some of these items
(13:55):
into the irrevocable trust so that they will be protected
from the cost of long term care. And by putting
them in there, yes, it takes five years, but it's
immediately protected from immediately avoids probate when you pass right.
So what I like to tell folks a lot when
they just have a will, a will is really a won't.
It's better than nothing. It certainly will direct where your
(14:18):
assets go, but it goes to probate and it will
not help you reduce the state taxes. So if you're married,
you're not going to shelter a state taxes, and it
will not protect assets from a nursing home, so it
won't avoid probate, won't reduce the state taxes, and won't
protect an asset from a nursing home. But it will
say where they go. So if that's all you want,
that works. And if you want to also, then just
(14:40):
throw in the avoidance of probate at least in your case, Martin,
I think naming the designated beneficiaries on these investment accounts
and brokerage accounts and bank accounts will get you there.
Hope that helps a little.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Mister Lutsky, thank you so much for the time. We
appreciate you joining us today.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
It is always my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
This has been Aske Todd on the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
Aske Todd with Todd Lutsky has been presented by Cushing
and Dolan, serving Massachusetts and New England for more than
thirty years, helping families with the state and tax planning,
Medicaid planning, and probate law. Call eight hundred three nine
three four thousand and one or visit Cushingdolan dot com.
The views expressed in this segment are solely those of
(15:21):
Cushing and Dolan. Armstrong Advisory does not provide any legal
or tax advice. Please consult with your illegal or tax
advisor on such matters. Cushing and Armstrong do not endorse
each other and are not affiliated.
This is Ask Todd on the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
If you have an existing estate plan or in the
market for one, Todd Lutsky is here to answer your
questions and help you plan for a later life. Ask
Todd is presented by Cushing and Dolan, serving Massachusetts and
New England for more than thirty five years, helping families
with estate and tax planning, medicaid planning, and probate law.
(00:22):
Visit Cushingdolan dot com. Now here's Todd Lutsky.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
As promised, We've got Todd Lutsky live in studio here
to answer your estate planning questions. Phone lines wide open
right now at eight eight eight to zero five two
two six three. That is the number to call to
ask Todd your estate planning questions live on air again.
It is eight eight eight two zero five two two
(00:49):
six three. Remember we can usually get to about two
or three of your calls, so make sure you get
in line early so that you can ask Todd your
estate planning questions again. That number is eight eight eight
two zero five two two six three. Mister Lutsky, how
are you doing today?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I am never better? How are you? I'm good?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Did you see that these scientists. They tried to cross
a cheetah with a crab.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
A cheetah and a crab. Yeah, that doesn't seem like
a good mix.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
No, it went sideways real fast. Yeah, not great, Todd.
Let's talk a little bit about revocable trust to day
everyone likes to talk about like the big brother, irrevocable,
like irrevocable trust, revocable trusts. Yes, what can they accomplish?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
So they can accomplish certainly, you know estate tax planning.
They can accomplish avoiding probate, and they can accomplish you know,
dynasty trust planning. They can They can allow you to
continue to control the asset after you die for a
very long time. Some states have no rule against perpetuities,
(02:04):
means it can go on forever. Not Massachusetts, of course
it allows you to do it, but only up for
about yeah, one hundred years give or take is the
rule about how long it can last. But it can
also help you skip generations, meaning you can do generations
skipping tax planning where you can take care of the family,
protect from creditors and divorces, and still make it go
(02:27):
to another generation without paying any estate tax at each generation.
So to me generational building wealth is phenomenal. And I
think also it's important when we talk about you know,
we always talk about irrevocable a lot, but with revocable,
Like with irrevocable, there are many kinds of trusts. There
are many kinds of irrevocable trusts. Even with the revocable world.
(02:49):
Now there's you know, the idea of two trusts versus
one trust, So we got to think about that as well.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Talk with Todd Lutsky from Cushing and Dolan. Again, phone
lines are open for you to ask Todd your is
date planning questions. The phone number is eight eight eight
to zero five two two six three. Again that is
eight eight eight two zero five two two six three.
Still have a little bit of space there for you
to ask Todd your questions. Again, it's eight eight eight
(03:16):
to zero five two two six three. Todd, these revocable
trusts on a daily basis, What are changes that people
would notice from how their finances worked before and what
stays the same?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, And I think that's part of the beauty of
revocable trusts is that they are really simple. You know,
you don't you don't have any separate income tax returns
to file. So let's like you say, with your finances,
Let's say I put my investment portfolio inside the trust.
Let's say I put my bank account inside the trust.
(03:53):
What's gonna happen. Am I going to not have access
to my money? Absolutely not. So the difference is the name.
Let's say, the name on my on my investment account,
if it was in my trust, would be called you know,
maybe if I'm doing a joint trust, it might be
the Lutsky Family Trust. Okay, that's all that you're gonna see.
The difference is you're gonna see that on your statements
that you get from your your you know, investment advisor,
(04:14):
and your access is exactly the same. Your investments are
exactly the same. And since that account might have the
Lutsky Family Trust as the name, it don't have my
Social Security on it. So there's no income tax returns
need to be filed. Just keep filing your own ten
forty just like you always do. So really becomes, you know,
just simple and uneventful for you, which is what we
(04:37):
want when we do our planning.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Talking with Tod Lutsky from the law firm of Cushing
and Dolan, if you've got a question for Todd. Eight
eight eight two zero five two two sixty three is
the number to call to ask him your question live
on air. Right now, we're going to take a quick
break and when we come back we'll get to your
questions with Todd. That phone number is eight eight eight
to zero five two two six three. Again it is
(05:03):
eight eight eight to zero five two two sixty three.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Ask Todd with Todd Lutsky every Wednesday at ten thirty
only here on the Financial Exchange Radio Network. Todd Letsky
answers your questions about a state and elder life planning
every Wednesday at ten thirty right here on the Financial
Exchange Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Talking with Todd Lutsky. You got a question for Todd.
The number to call is eight eight eight to zero
five two two sixty three to get your estate planning
question answered. Again, that is eight eight eight to zero
five two two six three. Let's go to Mark in Danvers. Mark,
you are on with Todd Lutsky.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Good morning, that's great show. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Question.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
You are talking about the vocable truck and you would
mentioned that the trust has no Social Security number assigned
to it. Does that mean you do not have to
pay capital gains on the trust if you put investments
in there.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Well, I'm sure there's a miscommunication on how we did that.
By the way, I love your creativity so awesome. I'd
love to figure out ways not to pay tax. Unfortunately,
what I said was that the revocable trust does not
have its own tax ID number, So you're correct about that. Instead,
like if it was the Lutzky family trust, it would
(06:33):
have my Social Security number on it. Okay. So the
beauty of the of the trust is that when you
put your investment portfolio in and your bank accounts in,
and I don't care if it's a rental property, et cetera,
that the trust itself is not going to have to
file an income tax return. So many people think that
(06:56):
you know when you put assets in a trust that
you pay higher taxes, not no taxes. They say, oh,
I heard that you put assets in a trust, you
have a much higher tax rate. So let me explain
what that means. First of all, with revocable trust that's
not the issue at all. With irrevocable trusts, it can
be if it's not a grand tour trust for income
(07:17):
tax purposes. So if you put it in an irrevocable trust,
and it's not a grand tour trust. When I say
they have higher tax rates if you make more than
and this number changes a lot, I think it's somewhere
around fourteen thousand, maybe a little higher if the trust
earns a little more than that in income, interest, dividends,
(07:39):
capital gains. It's at the top tax rate whatever, that
thirty nine percent thirty seven percent tax rate federally, whereas
with human beings our tax rate, we don't get into
that tax level until we're in the hundreds of thousands
of dollars, depending on whether you're married or so. That's
(08:01):
what I mean when I say trusts can have higher
tax rates and be compressed as they are. But in
the revocable trust situation, the beauty is we don't have
to worry about that at all. You don't have to
file a tax return. But it's not that good, unfortunately, Mark,
I wish I could make it as good as you
like it. The trust doesn't pay the gain or the
tax I do. The grant tour does. The person who
(08:24):
creates the trust does. So it just continues to be
taxed in my Social Security number, at my rates on
my tax return on my ten forty and I don't
have to file a tax return. So to me, that
helps it to be what I like to call simple
and uneventful in my life, not disrupting my life. And folks,
that's important because that really leads me into a brand
(08:44):
new guide that we've never given away before. It's one
that the BBBA passed, as we all know, and it
really just drives home something that we've been doing at
Cushing and Dolan for a long time, joint revocable trusts,
and it's catching on now. People are realizing that it
is important. And for a lot of people with you know,
what's a moderate estate these days under like fifteen million dollars,
(09:07):
the exemption federally is going to go up because of
the passage of the New Act, and it's going to
be fifteen million January one. Well, for a lot of people,
I don't have to give away stuff anymore. I can
keep stuff, avoid a forty percent estate tax, and get
a step up in basis when I die, eliminating the
built in gain that like Mark was talking about, eliminating
(09:29):
the built in gain and winning on the twenty eight
point eight percent front. Wow, even if I got to
give mass ten percent. I don't care. And these joint
revocable trusts are so simple. You don't have to divide
assets between husband and wife. You just fund them simply,
all with all your assets at one time, and you
can cram down way more assets than you could if
you had two trusts. And they're really wonderful if you
(09:51):
have large iras. Folks learn about joint revocable trusts, how
they work, the tax savings, it might be the way
to go for you. Eight six six eight four eight
five six nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com
again brand new guide eight six six eight four eight
five six nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Todd, we got another one for you here. Let's go
to Martin in Springfield. Martin, what is your question for Todd?
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Okay, my question is I filled out a will. I'm
seventy nine years old. Uh, and uh, my concern is
about probates. I'm from northern Vermont that came down here
to a senior community and so, uh, the that will
(10:44):
is done, but my concerns are probates and do I
need to get a trust? How much does a trust cost?
And uh, you're talking about revocable trust and irrevocable trust.
I have an irrevocable trust for my cremation. Uh, and so.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
So let me let me try to interject you so
I can get your question answered. The irrevocable trust for
your cremation, I'm sure has nothing. I don't think that's
an estate planning trust, correct, I don't. I don't know
what you did there, right, that's just something.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
So I don't know anything. So so you only have
a will?
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Correct that that's the extent of your estate plan. Okay,
so let's see your will. Yes. So one last question
that might be helpful is you said you came down
here to a senior community from Vermont?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Did did?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Do you own real estate in Vermont?
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Still?
Speaker 5 (11:41):
No? Okay, sold the house and from there I understand
that it was it was a real property because I
owned the land and the house here. I own the
house I lived in completely, but it's in the in
your community, and they told me that the land is
(12:03):
owned by somebody else.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Right, I got it, I understand. So basically, in these
senior communities you get to you kind of get a
place to live, but you don't own the property. I
totally get it. So that may not be an issue then,
so you may not own any real estate in Massachusetts,
which can be helpful, I guess from an avoiding probate standpoint.
So from your point of view and your question, let
me help others that are listening to if he owned
(12:28):
real estate in Vermont and in mass his question is
doubly important. I want to avoid probate because when you
own real estate in multiple states, you got to go
to probate in multiple states, even though you're not a
resident of the state in which you own real estate.
So that's important. Sounds like for you, Martin, however, there's
no Vermont real estates. I don't have to worry there,
(12:50):
And it sounds like there's probably no Massachusetts real estate
because you own it in this senior community and you
just have an interest in the house. Basically you just
have that house. Now, other assets you might own we
have to think about, which would be investments, stocks, bonds,
mutual funds, iras. So to the extent, all you want
(13:12):
to do is avoid probate, and you're not concerned about
estate tax planning or nursing home planning and protecting assets.
You can kind of do that if you have no
real estate by simply making sure these accounts all have
designated beneficiaries on them. If they do, they will pass
to those designated beneficiaries outside of probate, still subject to
(13:33):
a state tax. But if you're under two million dollars
here in mass you're not going to have any estate
tax to worry about, and that would successfully help you
avoid probate. Again, assuming no real estate. But a lot
of times and I heard you mentioned that maybe it's
an irrevocable Well, if you want to protect assets from
a nursing home, then you kind of need to think
about an irrevocable trust and putting some of these items
(13:55):
into the irrevocable trust so that they will be protected
from the cost of long term care. And by putting
them in there, yes, it takes five years, but it's
immediately protected from immediately avoids probate when you pass right.
So what I like to tell folks a lot when
they just have a will, a will is really a won't.
It's better than nothing. It certainly will direct where your
(14:18):
assets go, but it goes to probate and it will
not help you reduce the state taxes. So if you're married,
you're not going to shelter a state taxes, and it
will not protect assets from a nursing home, so it
won't avoid probate, won't reduce the state taxes, and won't
protect an asset from a nursing home. But it will
say where they go. So if that's all you want,
that works. And if you want to also, then just
(14:40):
throw in the avoidance of probate at least in your case, Martin,
I think naming the designated beneficiaries on these investment accounts
and brokerage accounts and bank accounts will get you there.
Hope that helps a little.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Mister Lutsky, thank you so much for the time. We
appreciate you joining us today.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
It is always my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
This has been Aske Todd on the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
Aske Todd with Todd Lutsky has been presented by Cushing
and Dolan, serving Massachusetts and New England for more than
thirty years, helping families with the state and tax planning,
Medicaid planning, and probate law. Call eight hundred three nine
three four thousand and one or visit Cushingdolan dot com.
The views expressed in this segment are solely those of
(15:21):
Cushing and Dolan. Armstrong Advisory does not provide any legal
or tax advice. Please consult with your illegal or tax
advisor on such matters. Cushing and Armstrong do not endorse
each other and are not affiliated.
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