Six Ways to Protect Your Family’s Wealth Before Year-End

By F. Keats Boyd III, Boyd & Boyd, P.C. | November 4, 2026

You worked hard to build your wealth. How much will your family keep after taxes? Who will manage it? What could put it at risk?

These questions deserve attention before the end of 2026.

The Associated Press projects that Democrats will control Congress beginning in January. A Republican President will remain in office, so major federal tax changes will require negotiation. The election itself does not change today’s tax laws. Election reporting

Your family should not wait for new legislation to review its options. Current law already offers ways to reduce certain taxes, protect assets and improve how wealth passes to the next generation.

The first step is finding out which options make sense for you.

Massachusetts voters approved Question 1 in 2022. It created an additional 4% tax on taxable income above a threshold that adjusts each year for inflation.

A large capital gain or taxable retirement withdrawal can push your income above that threshold, even if your usual annual income is much lower. Massachusetts surtax guidance

That is why a complete plan should consider income taxes and capital gains taxes as well as estate taxes.

It should also address practical questions. Will you still have access to enough money? Who will control the assets? What will the plan cost to maintain? Will the benefits justify its limits?

Here are six strategies worth considering.

A domestic asset protection trust, or DAPT, may allow you to transfer assets outside your taxable estate while remaining eligible to receive money from the trust.

An independent trustee decides whether to make those payments under the trust’s terms. You do not have an unlimited right to withdraw money.

With proper design and operation, the potential benefits may include:

The phrase “gift to yourself” describes the appeal of this strategy. But you must give up enough ownership and control to support the intended tax result. You cannot treat the trust like your personal checking account.

Massachusetts residents also need to consider how their state’s law interacts with the law of the trust’s home state. Massachusetts generally allows your creditors to reach trust assets that can be distributed for your benefit. Creating a trust under another state’s law does not automatically settle that issue. Massachusetts trust law

A carefully designed non-grantor trust may also reduce state income taxes on certain income. A non-grantor trust is generally treated as a separate taxpayer rather than having all its income taxed directly to its creator.

The outcome depends on where the trust is managed, where its income comes from, who benefits and how distributions are handled.

If you do not want to move, it may be worth asking whether moving selected assets into an appropriate trust could improve your tax position.

A spousal lifetime access trust, or SLAT, allows one spouse to give assets to a trust for the other spouse and, often, their children or other descendants.

A properly completed gift may remove those assets and their future growth from the donor’s taxable estate.

The spouse who benefits from the trust may receive payments under its terms. Those payments can help support the household. This can make a substantial gift more practical for couples who are not ready to give assets directly to their children.

There are important limits.

The spouse making the gift gives up ownership and direct access. Household access may change if the beneficiary spouse dies or the marriage ends. The trust cannot be based on a prior agreement that the gift will be returned.

If both spouses create trusts, the arrangements also require careful design. Trusts that effectively give each spouse the same access they had before may fail to achieve the intended estate-tax benefits.

A SLAT should fit both your tax goals and your need for financial security.

If you own investments or real estate that have increased greatly in value, a charitable remainder trust, or CRT, may be worth exploring.

This strategy is best suited to people who also have charitable goals.

A CRT can provide:

The trust does not simply erase capital gains taxes. Payments to beneficiaries follow tax rules that determine how much is ordinary income, capital gain or another type of distribution. The assets remaining at the end must pass to charity. IRS explanation of charitable remainder trusts

Timing matters. Review this option before a sale becomes effectively committed. Waiting until closing may be too late to achieve the intended tax result.

A family limited liability company, or LLC, or a limited partnership can help your family manage property and investments under a clear set of rules.

It can address questions such as:

These structures can also help with gifts of ownership interests to family members or trusts. Properly planned transfers may move future growth outside your estate. Valuation discounts may be available when supported by the facts and a sound appraisal.

The structure must serve a real purpose and be managed properly. Signing documents alone is not enough.

In selected cases, an LLC that chooses corporate tax treatment may also deserve review. The federal corporate income-tax rate is 21%, but that is only part of the calculation.

State taxes and taxes on payments to owners can increase the total cost. Special rules for passive income and retained earnings can also apply. IRS corporate tax guidance

The goal is to choose the structure that gives your family the best overall result, after all taxes and expenses.

A qualified personal residence trust, or QPRT, may help you pass a home to your family while keeping the right to live there for a set number of years.

The value of the taxable gift may be reduced because you retain that period of use.

If you survive the term, the home and its later growth in value generally pass outside your taxable estate. If you die during the term, the home generally remains part of your estate. IRS explanation of QPRTs

Before choosing this strategy, consider:

Starting earlier begins the term earlier. But the plan must also fit your family’s long-term needs and wishes for the property.

Your IRA or retirement plan may be one of your largest assets. Its account balance, however, may be much larger than the amount your children will keep after taxes.

Many adult children must empty an inherited IRA within ten years. Depending on the circumstances, they may also have to take annual required withdrawals during that period.

Those taxable withdrawals may arrive during their highest-earning years, on top of their salaries and other income. IRS inherited-IRA rules

A coordinated plan can consider several approaches:

Roth conversions. You pay income taxes during your lifetime when doing so is expected to produce a better long-term result for you and your family.

Beneficiary trusts. A trust can coordinate required withdrawals with rules for managing and protecting the inheritance.

Charitable remainder trusts. In suitable cases, retirement benefits can fund a trust that makes payments over a permitted period and leaves the remainder to charity.

Family-bank arrangements. A family can create rules for investing, managing and lending inherited wealth after required withdrawals and taxes.

An LLC or family bank does not itself eliminate IRA income taxes or extend the account’s required withdrawal period. Its value comes from helping your family manage the wealth that remains.

Some planning opportunities have real year-end deadlines.

A Roth conversion intended to use your 2026 tax bracket requires action this year. Gifts that qualify for the annual gift-tax exclusion and charitable contributions also require attention to calendar-year rules and completion dates.

Other opportunities depend on acting before:

Planning also takes time. Documents may need to be supported by appraisals, deeds, account transfers and updated beneficiary arrangements.

Signing a trust does not necessarily finish the job. The assets must be placed into it, and the rest of your plan must work with it.

These six strategies do not all expire on January 1. The reason to start now is to leave enough time to decide wisely and complete the work properly.

December 31 may be a deadline. It is rarely a practical starting date.

A tax law’s effective date is not always the date it is signed. Congress has used earlier dates, including the beginning of the tax year. Some proposals have also used dates tied to when a change was first put forward, rather than waiting for final passage.

Boyd & Boyd, P.C. offers a one-hour Advanced Wealth Protection Strategy Session with both attorneys:

F. Keats Boyd III and Whitney N. Tashjian

The consultation fee is $1,500, paid in advance. The full $1,500 will be credited toward the fee for any planning technique you choose to put in place with Boyd & Boyd, P.C.

This is a substantive advice session. Together, we will:

The meeting has value whether you decide to act or conclude that your current plan remains the better choice. You will leave with a clearer understanding of your options and the financial reasons behind your decision.

When you call, tell us which concern matters most:

You can also learn more in our Advanced Estate Planning FAQ.

Before setting this aside, consider the cost of never finding out. Your current plan may leave an important opportunity unaddressed. There may also be a sound reason to leave things as they are.

The purpose of this meeting is to examine the numbers and help you decide.

Call Boyd & Boyd, P.C. this week to arrange your Advanced Wealth Protection Strategy Session.