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Boyd & Boyd, P.C.

Wealth Protection Planning for families nationwide.

The wealth you intend for a spouse, children, and grandchildren can face risks after it leaves your hands: a child’s divorce, creditor claims, bankruptcy, rapid spending, and taxes that appropriate planning may help reduce. Plan for those risks while you can still choose how your wealth passes.

Wealth Protection Planning examines risks to your assets and a loved one’s inheritance, including creditor claims, divorce, Estate Taxes, incapacity, and an inheritance received at the wrong time. Different risks require different arrangements; no single Trust solves every problem.

Choose the concern closest to your family. Read what is at stake, what a real legal case or law change can teach us, and the planning questions to raise before you decide.

THE RISK AND YOUR PLANNING OPTIONS

Your Wealth Can Reach the Right Person—and Still Face the Wrong Risk.

Wealth Protection Planning addresses risks to the wealth you intend for your family: a beneficiary’s divorce, lawsuits, creditor claims, bankruptcy, or rapid spending; a later remarriage that changes where wealth goes; and taxes that appropriate planning may help reduce.

The aim is to preserve the usefulness of your wealth for a spouse, children, and grandchildren. That means considering how they receive it, who controls it, when it can be distributed, and which protections the law permits.

These are different problems, and they need different tools. A plan that avoids Probate does not automatically protect an inheritance from a beneficiary’s creditors or eliminate Estate Taxes.

A REAL CASE. A PLANNING LESSON.

In Jones v. Jones, decided by the Massachusetts Appeals Court in 2023, a mother had arranged a Trust for her daughter. The Trust included discretionary and spendthrift provisions.

During the daughter’s divorce, the court examined her actual rights under that Trust. It upheld including her Trust interest in the marital estate because the interest was sufficiently fixed and enforceable.

The lesson is specific: protective language and an independent trustee did not settle the question. The beneficiary’s rights and the Trust’s particular terms mattered.

WHAT THIS COULD MEAN FOR YOUR FAMILY

Perhaps you want your spouse to remain secure, a child to have help buying a home, or grandchildren to have educational opportunities. Those intentions deserve more than a name on a beneficiary form.

When wealth is paid directly to someone, that person owns and controls it. Their financial circumstances and choices can then affect what remains. An inheritance left in a properly designed Trust can operate differently.

The planning question is not just who receives your wealth. It is what happens to that wealth in the life of the person receiving it.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP FOR YOUR FAMILY

If a child’s divorce concerns you, start there. If most of your wealth is in retirement accounts, start with the IRA you intend to leave. If you want both your spouse and children protected, explain those two priorities.

At Boyd & Boyd, P.C., F. Keats Boyd III and Whitney N. Tashjian help families connect those concerns to the choices in their plan. A Personal Asset Trust℠ or other arrangement may be worth considering; the right approach depends on the people, assets, and laws involved.

Start with the free educational download below. Its thank-you page gives you immediate access and an invitation to discuss your own questions with our team.

THE RISK AND YOUR PLANNING OPTIONS

You Cannot Choose Every Event in Your Child’s Life. You Can Plan How an Inheritance Reaches Them.

A properly designed inheritance Trust may help protect assets from a beneficiary’s creditor claims and address divorce-related risks. It can also provide a framework for supporting someone who is not ready to manage a large sum.

That protection depends on the Trust’s terms, the beneficiary’s rights, distributions, and applicable law. There is no universal promise that a Trust will defeat every claim.

Leaving wealth outright and leaving it in Trust create different ownership and control arrangements. Review that choice while you can still decide how your inheritance will be provided.

A REAL CASE. A PLANNING LESSON.

The Trust in the 2023 Massachusetts case Jones v. Jones included provisions intended to restrict access and provide trustee discretion. Yet the court concluded that the daughter’s interest was sufficiently fixed and enforceable to include in the marital estate.

The court examined the whole arrangement, including mandatory distribution terms. It did not decide the issue by the Trust’s title.

This was a public court case. Its result is a reason to examine the details of an inheritance plan, rather than assume that every Trust provides the same protection.

WHAT THIS COULD MEAN FOR YOUR FAMILY

A child may need help with housing, health, or education at one stage of life and different support later. You can discuss whether an inheritance should remain available through a Trust rather than be distributed on a fixed birthday.

That conversation also includes who should act as trustee and which decisions the beneficiary should be able to make. Flexibility, access, and protection need to be considered together.

Once funds are distributed, protections that applied while they were held in Trust may no longer apply. Ask how both stages are addressed.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP FOR YOUR FAMILY

Explain what you want the inheritance to accomplish and any concern about debt, divorce, spending, or a beneficiary’s ability to manage money. Your child does not have to be irresponsible for protective planning to deserve attention.

Our team can discuss whether a Personal Asset Trust℠ or another inheritance arrangement should be evaluated. Start with the support you want to provide and the risks you want considered.

Start with the free educational download below. Its thank-you page gives you immediate access and an invitation to discuss your own questions with our team.

THE RISK AND YOUR PLANNING OPTIONS

The Trust That Helps Avoid Probate May Leave Your Own Creditor Exposure Unchanged.

In Massachusetts, assets in your Revocable Living Trust remain subject to your creditors’ claims during your lifetime. Having a Living Trust does not, by itself, shield your own property from a lawsuit, debt collection, or bankruptcy.

That is a different question from protecting wealth you leave in Trust for a child or another beneficiary. Who created the Trust, who can benefit, who controls distributions, and which law applies all matter.

An Irrevocable Trust is not automatically a complete answer either. Its terms and the rights you retain require a separate review.

WHY THE LEGAL DISTINCTION MATTERS

A Revocable Living Trust allows you to retain the power to change or revoke the arrangement. That flexibility can be valuable when your wishes or circumstances change.

Massachusetts law also makes the property in that Trust available to your creditors during life. Moving an asset into a Revocable Trust does not erase that exposure.

A family may therefore have a useful Probate-avoidance plan and still need a separate conversation about Asset Protection. The two goals should be named separately.

WHAT THIS COULD MEAN FOR YOUR FAMILY

Your business or personal liability is one concern. A child’s future creditors are another. Retirement accounts, real estate, insurance, and assets held in different ownership arrangements may raise different questions.

If you say “my Trust protects the assets,” identify whose assets and against which claims. That turns a reassuring assumption into something your advisors can actually evaluate.

Planning must also respect existing claims and transfer restrictions. Do not move assets to escape a claim without obtaining legal advice.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP FOR YOUR FAMILY

Bring your Trust, an overview of the assets involved, and the particular exposure that concerns you. Explain whether you are worried about your own liability or the inheritance you leave to someone else.

Start with the free educational download below. Its thank-you page gives you immediate access and an invitation to discuss your own questions with our team.

THE RISK AND YOUR PLANNING OPTIONS

Your Spouse’s Security and Your Children’s Inheritance Deserve a Plan Together.

Wealth Protection Planning can consider both a surviving spouse’s support and your intentions for children, including children from an earlier relationship. It addresses who controls the assets, who may change the plan, and what happens after the survivor’s death or remarriage.

A Trust, beneficiary designation, or ownership arrangement can affect those choices in different ways. Applicable spousal rights must also be considered.

An informal promise that your children will receive what remains does not establish the same rights as a coordinated legal arrangement.

A REAL CASE. A PLANNING LESSON.

In Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009, an employee had named his wife as beneficiary of an employer savings plan.

They divorced, and she waived her interest in the divorce decree. He did not change the plan’s beneficiary designation. After his death, the administrator paid the funds to the former wife, following the plan documents. The Supreme Court upheld that action.

This was an employer-plan case under federal law. Its planning lesson is to coordinate the actual account instructions with major family changes, rather than assume one document fixes every asset.

WHAT THIS COULD MEAN FOR YOUR FAMILY

Should your spouse be able to remain in the home? Have access to income or principal? Who should make those decisions? Which assets should ultimately benefit your children?

If the survivor later remarries, which parts of your plan should remain flexible and which intentions should be preserved? Those are important choices to discuss together.

A plan can be evaluated against those priorities only after you make them clear.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP FOR YOUR FAMILY

Tell our team about the people you want to support and the concern behind your question. Bring current beneficiary information as well as your Will or Trust.

Start with the free educational download below. Its thank-you page gives you immediate access and an invitation to discuss your own questions with our team.

THE RISK AND YOUR PLANNING OPTIONS

An Avoidable Tax Bill Leaves Less for the People You Intended to Help.

Tax Planning may reduce certain taxes, but it must be evaluated alongside your family’s needs and the rights you want to retain. A Trust does not automatically eliminate Estate Taxes.

Estate Taxes, income taxes on retirement-account distributions, and capital-gains considerations are different issues. A strategy that helps with one may affect another.

Your residence, assets, beneficiary arrangements, and applicable federal and state rules determine which questions need a detailed review.

A REAL CHANGE IN THE LAW

Massachusetts changed its Estate Tax rules in 2023, providing a credit that eliminates Massachusetts Estate Tax for estates valued at $2 million or less and reduces tax for larger taxable estates.

That change is a real example of why a plan’s assumptions should be revisited. A document signed under earlier rules does not update itself just because the law changes.

The planning decision is what makes sense under current rules and your current circumstances, including any tradeoffs in control, access, and other taxes.

WHAT THIS COULD MEAN FOR YOUR FAMILY

If retirement accounts represent a large part of your wealth, a beneficiary’s future income-tax obligations may deserve attention even when Estate Taxes are not your principal concern.

If your estate may be taxable, compare potential tax benefits with the flexibility and access a proposed strategy would change. The best choice cannot be judged by a tax-saving headline alone.

The goal is to evaluate what your family can receive and use, with the relevant costs and tradeoffs understood.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP FOR YOUR FAMILY

Tell our team where you live, what kinds of assets you expect to leave, and who should receive them. Ask whether Estate Tax Planning, Retirement Account Inheritance Planning, or another analysis is appropriate.

Start with the free educational download below. Its thank-you page gives you immediate access and an invitation to discuss your own questions with our team.

THE RISK AND YOUR PLANNING OPTIONS

Your IRA May Be Protected for You. The IRA Your Child Inherits Can Face Different Rules.

This path is about the IRA you own and intend to leave to your spouse, children, or other loved ones. We are planning before your death for the account they will inherit—not describing protection for an IRA you already inherited.

The concerns include a beneficiary’s creditor exposure or bankruptcy, access to large withdrawals, and the distribution and tax rules that apply after inheritance.

A spouse and a nonspouse beneficiary can have different options. The appropriate beneficiary arrangement, including whether to consider an IRA Inheritance Trust™, requires a review of the account, the people involved, and current law.

A REAL CASE. A PLANNING LESSON.

In Clark v. Rameker, a mother’s IRA passed to her daughter after the mother died. Years later, the daughter and her husband filed for bankruptcy and claimed roughly $300,000 remaining in the inherited IRA as exempt retirement funds.

In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that this inherited IRA did not qualify for the federal retirement-funds exemption at issue.

The money had been accumulated for the mother’s retirement. That history did not establish the daughter’s exemption after inheritance.

This was a public court case, not a Boyd & Boyd, P.C. client matter. Spousal options and applicable state exemptions require separate analysis; the decision does not mean every inherited IRA has identical protection.

WHAT THIS COULD MEAN FOR YOUR FAMILY

Many nonspouse beneficiaries must empty an inherited retirement account within ten years, with exceptions and additional rules depending on the circumstances. Required distributions and tax consequences need to be considered alongside protection.

An IRA Inheritance Trust™ may provide a framework for controlling how funds are held and used, but it does not remove applicable withdrawal deadlines or automatically make distributions tax-free.

The choice of beneficiary and the Trust’s design must work together. Do not change an IRA beneficiary designation to a Trust without reviewing the consequences.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP FOR YOUR FAMILY

Tell our team which IRA you expect to leave, who should inherit it, and the concern you want addressed: creditors, spending, taxes, or a beneficiary’s need for support.

Bring the current beneficiary designation. Our team can discuss whether specialized Retirement Account Inheritance Planning deserves further evaluation.

Already inherited an IRA? Tell us that when you call. That is a different starting point, and the options depend on the existing arrangement.

THE RISK AND YOUR PLANNING OPTIONS

Signing the Documents Was One Decision. Keeping Them Aligned With Your Life Is Another.

A Will or Trust can establish important instructions without resolving every risk to your family’s wealth. Your current plan may need a closer look after a marriage, divorce, death, move, change in assets, or change in law.

Review how inheritances are distributed, who controls assets after your death, and whether retirement-account beneficiary designations fit the plan.

The purpose is to identify what still fits and what may need attention. A review does not mean everything must be replaced.

A REAL CASE. A PLANNING LESSON.

The 2009 Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. DuPont involved an employer savings plan that still named a former wife as beneficiary. A divorce decree contained a waiver, but the employee had not changed the designation.

The plan administrator paid according to the plan documents, and the Court upheld that action.

For families reviewing an existing plan, the lesson is to check the instructions attached to the assets—not only the documents in the Estate Planning folder.

WHAT THIS COULD MEAN FOR YOUR FAMILY

Will a child receive assets outright, or can they remain in a Trust? What does the plan do if your spouse later remarries? Are the people named to act still the people you would choose?

Who is listed on your IRA and insurance beneficiary forms? Has the plan been considered under the tax and inheritance rules that apply today?

You do not have to solve those questions yourself. Start by identifying which answer you do not know.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP FOR YOUR FAMILY

Gather your existing documents and current beneficiary information. Explain what has changed or which protection you thought the plan provided.

Start with the free educational download below. Its thank-you page gives you immediate access and an invitation to discuss your own questions with our team.

IN A REVIEWER’S OWN WORDS

★★★★★ 5-Star Google Review

“He has helped us establish and understand the trusts we need to ensure the best for our sons”

— Nelson Frew

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

IN A REVIEWER’S OWN WORDS

★★★★★ 5-Star Google Review

“He has helped us establish and understand the trusts we need to ensure the best for our sons”

— Nelson Frew

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

IN A REVIEWER’S OWN WORDS

★★★★★ 5-Star Google Review

“Boyd & Boyd takes the time to walk you through the entire process of creating the trust that is best for you.”

— Edward Breen

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

IN A REVIEWER’S OWN WORDS

★★★★★ 5-Star Google Review

“Everyone was extremely helpful during the entire process and we feel confident that we have a sensible and comprehensive estate plan.”

— Pamela Gordon

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

IN A REVIEWER’S OWN WORDS

★★★★★ 5-Star Google Review

“They were immediately responsive and explained all we needed to know.”

— Bob

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

IN A REVIEWER’S OWN WORDS

★★★★★ 5-Star Google Review

“After attending again this year, I feel much more confident in my trust decisions.”

— Elaine Gerlt

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

IN A REVIEWER’S OWN WORDS

★★★★★ 5-Star Google Review

“Very thorough presentations. Took time to answer all questions.”

— Tabetha Avtges

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

Since 1976, Boyd & Boyd, P.C. has helped families with Estate Planning. F. Keats Boyd III and Whitney N. Tashjian bring the conversation back to the people you want to support: what they may need, which risks concern you, and how your plan can address those priorities. We assist families nationwide, with signing arrangements or licensed co-counsel as appropriate.

Wealth Protection Planning addresses risks to the wealth you intend for your family: a beneficiary’s divorce, lawsuits, creditor claims, bankruptcy, or rapid spending; a later remarriage that changes where wealth goes; and taxes that appropriate planning may help reduce.

A properly designed inheritance Trust may help protect assets from a beneficiary’s creditor claims and address divorce-related risks. It can also provide a framework for supporting someone who is not ready to manage a large sum.

In Massachusetts, assets in your Revocable Living Trust remain subject to your creditors’ claims during your lifetime. Having a Living Trust does not, by itself, shield your own property from a lawsuit, debt collection, or bankruptcy.

Wealth Protection Planning can consider both a surviving spouse’s support and your intentions for children, including children from an earlier relationship. It addresses who controls the assets, who may change the plan, and what happens after the survivor’s death or remarriage.

Tax Planning may reduce certain taxes, but it must be evaluated alongside your family’s needs and the rights you want to retain. A Trust does not automatically eliminate Estate Taxes.

This path is about the IRA you own and intend to leave to your spouse, children, or other loved ones. We are planning before your death for the account they will inherit—not describing protection for an IRA you already inherited.

A Will or Trust can establish important instructions without resolving every risk to your family’s wealth. Your current plan may need a closer look after a marriage, divorce, death, move, change in assets, or change in law.

It can involve both, but they are different analyses. Your own exposure to lawsuits and creditors requires a review of your assets and arrangements. Protection for the inheritance you leave requires a review of the beneficiary’s rights, Trust terms, distributions, and applicable law. Tell us which concern brought you here.

The Retirement Account Inheritance Planning path on this page concerns the IRA you own and intend to leave to loved ones. If you have already inherited an IRA, say so when you call. The available options depend on the existing beneficiary arrangement and applicable rules.

We assist families nationwide. Families outside Massachusetts may come to our office to sign, or we may work with co-counsel licensed in their home state. The arrangement depends on the work and the applicable state’s requirements.

Yes. You can request a free Estate Planning Strategy Session. Contact our team to arrange the conversation and discuss your next step.

YOUR NEXT STEP: A FREE EDUCATIONAL DOWNLOAD

Prepare better questions about the taxes that may affect what your family keeps.

Get Is Your Estate Plan a Tax Time Bomb?, an August 2025 seminar presentation. Use it to recognize the questions you want answered about your family’s circumstances.

See which planning decisions deserve your attention. Put names to the concerns you want to address. Arrive at your next conversation ready to explain what matters to your family.

Enter your name and email on the next page. Your thank-you page provides immediate PDF access and an invitation to a free Estate Planning Strategy Session. Any legal work requires a separate engagement.

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© 2026 Boyd & Boyd, P.C.

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