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Boyd Boyd, P.C.

PERSONAL ASSET TRUST℠ · PROTECTION FOR YOUR HEIRS.

You worked to give your family greater security. A child’s divorce, creditor claim, or financial difficulties could change what that inheritance provides. Plan how your loved ones receive the wealth—and what happens after they receive it.

A Personal Asset Trust℠ is a continuing inheritance Trust provided for in your Living Trust. Instead of paying a beneficiary’s entire share outright, your plan can hold that share in a Trust designed around the beneficiary’s needs and the risks you want addressed. The purpose is to help your loved ones benefit from what you leave while reducing avoidable exposure to creditors, divorce, poor financial decisions, and other circumstances. Protection depends on the Trust’s terms, applicable law, funding, and administration.

This page concerns protecting the inheritance you leave to other people. Planning to protect your own assets from your own creditors is a separate subject.

A REAL CASE. A REASON TO READ THE TERMS.

In Jones v. Jones (2023), a mother’s planning provided an irrevocable Trust for her daughter. The Trust had an independent trustee, discretionary distributions, and a spendthrift provision. Yet the Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld including the daughter’s Trust interest in the marital estate for a divorce property division.

Why? Among other provisions, the daughter was entitled to receive all the remaining Trust property after her mother’s death. The court examined the actual rights created by the document; the protective labels did not resolve the question.

This public case was not a Boyd Boyd, P.C. client matter, and it did not involve our Personal Asset Trust℠. Its lesson is practical: examine what your beneficiary can demand, when distributions become mandatory, and how the terms work together. No Trust guarantees a result in divorce.

Choose a question. The cards below will adapt to the concern you select.

YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED

You Want to Leave an Inheritance. You Want It to Last, Too.

A Personal Asset Trust℠ is a continuing inheritance Trust provided for in your Living Trust. Instead of paying a beneficiary’s entire share outright, your plan can hold that share in a Trust designed around the beneficiary’s needs and the risks you want addressed.

The purpose is to help your loved ones benefit from what you leave while reducing avoidable exposure to creditors, divorce, poor financial decisions, and other circumstances. Protection depends on the Trust’s terms, applicable law, funding, and administration.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR FAMILY

You may want an inheritance to help with a home, education, medical care, or long-term security. Paying the entire share outright gives the recipient ownership—and exposes it to the circumstances that come with ownership.

A continuing Trust lets you plan how support is provided, who makes decisions, and what happens to the remaining inheritance when your beneficiary dies.

LOOK BEYOND THE DOCUMENT’S NAME

A Living Trust may avoid Probate and still require your child’s share to be paid outright. Read what happens after your death: does the protection continue, or does the Trust end when the inheritance is distributed?

That question is worth asking even when your children are financially responsible. A lawsuit or a change in a marriage is not something good judgment alone can prevent.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Discuss whom you want to help, what you want the inheritance to accomplish, and whether your current plan carries those intentions beyond the initial transfer.

Your first decision is to call for a free Estate Planning Strategy Session. Further legal work requires a separate engagement; its scope and fee are explained before you proceed.

YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED

Your Child’s Inheritance Should Have a Purpose Beyond Paying Someone Else’s Claim.

A properly designed third-party inheritance Trust may help protect a beneficiary’s interest from certain creditor claims. Divorce requires its own analysis: a court may consider the beneficiary’s rights, the Trust’s provisions, and the family’s circumstances.

A spendthrift clause or discretionary distribution provision is not an automatic shield. In Massachusetts, a Trust interest may be included in a divorce property division when it amounts to a sufficiently fixed and enforceable right.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR FAMILY

The concern is not whether you trust your child. It is whether the inheritance should be owned outright, with every risk that ownership brings.

Plan before the inheritance changes hands. Once money has been distributed to a beneficiary, the Trust’s protections generally no longer apply to those funds.

LOOK BEYOND THE DOCUMENT’S NAME

Consider distribution rights, mandatory payouts, beneficiary powers, the role of an independent trustee, and whether other beneficiaries have current interests. Each choice affects the balance between access and protection.

A creditor claim, a divorce property division, and a request for family support involve different rules. A useful plan addresses the actual concern rather than promising protection from every possible claim.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Tell us whether divorce, creditor exposure, or another family circumstance concerns you. Discuss which provisions in your current plan deserve closer attention.

Your first decision is to call for a free Estate Planning Strategy Session. Further legal work requires a separate engagement; its scope and fee are explained before you proceed.

YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED

Support Without an Unrestricted Payout.

A continuing Trust can authorize distributions for a beneficiary’s needs and provide carefully defined management powers. Whether a beneficiary may serve as trustee, remove or replace a trustee, or direct where remaining assets go depends on the design.

Greater control can create additional exposure. Distribution standards, withdrawal rights, trustee independence, and powers of appointment should be considered together.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR FAMILY

You do not have to choose between leaving everything outright and preventing your child from receiving useful support. The terms can address the kinds of help you want the inheritance to provide.

Explain the outcome you want first. The drafting choices should follow from your family’s needs, not from a blanket promise that one Trust suits everyone.

LOOK BEYOND THE DOCUMENT’S NAME

Ask who can authorize distributions, what your child can demand, and when an independent decision-maker is needed. Also ask who steps in if a trustee becomes ill, dies, or cannot serve.

Mandatory distributions at specified ages may end protection for the money paid out. Continuing a Trust longer may preserve opportunities for protection but brings administration and tax considerations.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Discuss the support your beneficiary needs, the responsibilities they could handle, and the decisions that may benefit from an independent trustee.

Your first decision is to call for a free Estate Planning Strategy Session. Further legal work requires a separate engagement; its scope and fee are explained before you proceed.

YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED

Your Plan May Transfer the Wealth Without Protecting What Happens Next.

An existing revocable Living Trust may be amended or restated to provide continuing Personal Asset Trust℠ arrangements for beneficiaries. Whether that is appropriate depends on the document, amendment powers, family circumstances, and the assets involved.

A document review should identify mandatory payouts, beneficiary rights, trustee provisions, and funding arrangements. Some changes need coordination with beneficiary designations or other documents.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR FAMILY

Look at the plan you already paid for before assuming you must start over. The important question is whether its provisions still support what you want for the next generation.

Changes in family needs and law can justify a review even when the people named in your documents have not changed.

LOOK BEYOND THE DOCUMENT’S NAME

Do not assume that writing a new clause automatically coordinates every asset. Joint ownership, beneficiary forms, real estate, and retirement accounts require attention.

If the relevant Trust has already become irrevocable, changing it presents different legal questions. Tell our team whether you are reviewing your own plan or a Trust created after someone’s death.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Bring your current Trust and beneficiary information. Discuss whether a targeted update, a broader revision, or further analysis is the appropriate next step.

Your first decision is to call for a free Estate Planning Strategy Session. Further legal work requires a separate engagement; its scope and fee are explained before you proceed.

YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED

The Same Inheritance Can Help One Person and Create Problems for Another.

A beneficiary’s disability, eligibility for public benefits, addiction, or difficulty managing money calls for individualized planning. Continuing Trust provisions can address management and distributions, but a general inheritance Trust is not automatically a Special Needs Trust.

Benefit eligibility depends on the particular program and the Trust’s terms and administration. The plan must address those requirements rather than assuming that holding assets in any Trust preserves eligibility.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR FAMILY

You may want support available without putting a large sum directly in someone’s hands. A trustee can be given a framework for evaluating needs and providing assistance.

Different children may need different provisions. Fairness does not require identical distribution rights or the same management arrangement for every beneficiary.

LOOK BEYOND THE DOCUMENT’S NAME

Choose decision-makers who can carry out the plan and understand the beneficiary’s circumstances. Consider how they will obtain information and respond when needs change.

Protection provisions should be coordinated with appropriate specialist advice where benefit eligibility or care needs are involved. The goal is useful support that fits the person receiving it.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Explain your beneficiary’s needs and the support you want available. Discuss whether specialized provisions or additional advice should be part of the next step.

Your first decision is to call for a free Estate Planning Strategy Session. Further legal work requires a separate engagement; its scope and fee are explained before you proceed.

YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED

The IRA You Leave Has Its Own Tax Rules.

A Trust may be named as the beneficiary of a retirement account, but retirement-account distribution and income-tax rules require separate analysis. A general Personal Asset Trust℠ should not be assumed to be the right beneficiary for an IRA.

Trust qualification, the identity of beneficiaries, payout requirements, and the treatment of retained distributions can affect the result. An IRA Inheritance Trust™ or another arrangement may deserve consideration.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR FAMILY

An IRA can represent a large share of the wealth you intend to leave. Decide how its tax treatment and inheritance protections should work together before completing the beneficiary form.

Protection for an inheritance does not eliminate income taxes. The plan must balance support, control, creditor concerns, and the applicable distribution rules.

LOOK BEYOND THE DOCUMENT’S NAME

Coordinate your Trust with the account’s beneficiary designation. Instructions in a Will alone do not replace the account’s beneficiary form.

Already inherited an IRA? That is a different starting point. Tell our team whether you are planning the IRA you will leave or reviewing an account someone has already inherited.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Bring your retirement-account beneficiary information. Discuss whether specialized Retirement Account Inheritance Planning is appropriate for the people you want to support.

Your first decision is to call for a free Estate Planning Strategy Session. Further legal work requires a separate engagement; its scope and fee are explained before you proceed.

YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED

Compare What Continues for Your Family, Not Just the Price of Signing.

Most Estate Planning work at Boyd Boyd, P.C. is handled on a flat-fee basis. The scope and fee are explained before you decide on legal work. The investment depends on the existing plan, the provisions needed, and the coordination required.

Compare features: distribution rights, trustee arrangements, protection provisions, implementation, and future administration. A lower price for a narrower plan is not the same service at a discount.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR FAMILY

A continuing inheritance Trust may require records, trustee decisions, tax filings, and professional assistance. Ask who will handle those responsibilities and how their costs will be paid.

The value is in matching the plan to your family’s future—not in adding provisions that nobody understands or administers.

LOOK BEYOND THE DOCUMENT’S NAME

Review the plan as laws, assets, relationships, and beneficiary needs change. Funding and beneficiary designations must remain aligned with the documents.

No numerical fee range is presented here because a meaningful comparison requires the actual scope. Your free Strategy Session is the first step toward deciding what further work, if any, should be evaluated.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Discuss your current plan, the changes you want, and the scope and fee of further work before committing to a revision.

Your first decision is to call for a free Estate Planning Strategy Session. Further legal work requires a separate engagement; its scope and fee are explained before you proceed.

IN A REVIEWER’S OWN WORDS

★★★★★ 5-Star Google Review

“Keats is a wonderful lawyer and really knows his field. He and his staff have been delights to work with.”

— Sara Waters

Review excerpts reflect individual experiences and do not guarantee an outcome for another family.

F. Keats Boyd III and Whitney N. Tashjian help families think through important Estate Planning and Wealth Protection Planning decisions. At Boyd Boyd, P.C., the conversation begins with what you want to protect and what you want the next generation to understand.

A Personal Asset Trust℠ is a continuing inheritance Trust provided for in your Living Trust. Instead of paying a beneficiary’s entire share outright, your plan can hold that share in a Trust designed around the beneficiary’s needs and the risks you want addressed. The purpose is to help your loved ones benefit from what you leave while reducing avoidable exposure to creditors, divorce, poor financial decisions, and other circumstances. Protection depends on the Trust’s terms, applicable law, funding, and administration.

A properly designed third-party inheritance Trust may help protect a beneficiary’s interest from certain creditor claims. Divorce requires its own analysis: a court may consider the beneficiary’s rights, the Trust’s provisions, and the family’s circumstances. A spendthrift clause or discretionary distribution provision is not an automatic shield. In Massachusetts, a Trust interest may be included in a divorce property division when it amounts to a sufficiently fixed and enforceable right.

A continuing Trust can authorize distributions for a beneficiary’s needs and provide carefully defined management powers. Whether a beneficiary may serve as trustee, remove or replace a trustee, or direct where remaining assets go depends on the design. Greater control can create additional exposure. Distribution standards, withdrawal rights, trustee independence, and powers of appointment should be considered together.

An existing revocable Living Trust may be amended or restated to provide continuing Personal Asset Trust℠ arrangements for beneficiaries. Whether that is appropriate depends on the document, amendment powers, family circumstances, and the assets involved. A document review should identify mandatory payouts, beneficiary rights, trustee provisions, and funding arrangements. Some changes need coordination with beneficiary designations or other documents.

A beneficiary’s disability, eligibility for public benefits, addiction, or difficulty managing money calls for individualized planning. Continuing Trust provisions can address management and distributions, but a general inheritance Trust is not automatically a Special Needs Trust. Benefit eligibility depends on the particular program and the Trust’s terms and administration. The plan must address those requirements rather than assuming that holding assets in any Trust preserves eligibility.

A Trust may be named as the beneficiary of a retirement account, but retirement-account distribution and income-tax rules require separate analysis. A general Personal Asset Trust℠ should not be assumed to be the right beneficiary for an IRA. Trust qualification, the identity of beneficiaries, payout requirements, and the treatment of retained distributions can affect the result. An IRA Inheritance Trust™ or another arrangement may deserve consideration.

Most Estate Planning work at Boyd Boyd, P.C. is handled on a flat-fee basis. The scope and fee are explained before you decide on legal work. The investment depends on the existing plan, the provisions needed, and the coordination required. Compare features: distribution rights, trustee arrangements, protection provisions, implementation, and future administration. A lower price for a narrower plan is not the same service at a discount.

Reviewed by Boyd Boyd, P.C. · October 4, 2026

Boyd Boyd, P.C. assists families nationwide. Families outside Massachusetts may come to our office to sign, or we may work with co-counsel licensed in their home state. Asset location, residence, and the law governing each arrangement affect how the work should be structured.

No. Planning addresses specific exposures and lawful protections. It does not eliminate liability, defeat every creditor, or guarantee a result. The facts, applicable law, implementation, and ongoing administration matter.

YOUR FREE ESTATE PLANNING STRATEGY SESSION

Discuss whom you want to help, what you want the inheritance to accomplish, and whether your current plan carries those intentions beyond the initial transfer.

Your intentions made clearer: identify the support you want available for your spouse, children, and grandchildren. Fewer assumptions: discuss whether your current plan pays inheritances outright or provides continuing arrangements. A more informed next decision: understand where access, protection, taxes, and administration need to be balanced.

Your Strategy Session is free. Additional legal work requires a separate engagement. No protection or outcome is guaranteed.

(508) 444-9688 · Tell our team which inheritance concern brought you here.

1555 Iyannough Road, Unit 1BW • Hyannis, Massachusetts 02601

(508) 444-9688 • plan@boydandboydpc.com

© 2026 Boyd Boyd, P.C.

General information only. Legal advice depends on your circumstances and an attorney-client engagement.