Estate and Trust Administration and Trustee Services

 
 
Our trusts and estates attorneys regularly guide family members and friends through the estate administration process when a loved one dies. We provide skilled counseling and advocacy to make the administration process as smooth as possible. We attend to:
  • Appointment of the executor or administrator, advising him or her throughout the probate process.
  • Collection and valuation of the assets.
  • Payment of any debts of the estate.
  • Preparation of the estate inventory and final accounting.
  • Estate planning for the surviving spouse.
  • Preparation and filing of federal and state tax returns.
In conjunction with administering an estate, we can assist with the sale of a business and works of art. We regularly coordinate ancillary administration of assets outside of Massachusetts.

We frequently represent trustees of testamentary and lifetime trusts, providing them counsel as to their fiduciary duties and responsibilities. When appropriate, we also serve as professional executors or trustees, providing stewardship of family assets according to our clients' wishes. We have particular expertise in serving as professional trustees of special-needs trusts, bringing to every fiduciary relationship an understanding of the unique complexities of working with disabled beneficiaries.

Representative Matters
  • Created (and one of our attorneys now serves as trustee of) a trust holding a large products liability damages award for a disabled person.
  • Established a trust and one of our attorneys serves as trustee for a person whose conviction for first-degree murder was vacated and who was awarded a settlement to compensate him for injuries resulting from his 12 years of wrongful incarceration (as featured in the April 2007 issue of Boston Magazine).
  • Represented a bank as executor of the estate of a U.S. citizen domiciled in France whose estate included assets in both countries.