Just When You Thought an Irrevocable Trust Couldn’t Be Changed: 5 Ways to Modify an Irrevocable Trust

Posted by Robert L. Arone – Irrevocable trusts shouldn’t be left to languish as the years go by. In this issue, we’ll show you why and how an old or out-of-date irrevocable trust can be modified to benefit you, your clients, their spouses, or other beneficiaries. And, of course, it’s all totally legal. How Trust Modifications Benefit Your Book of Business Understanding why and how an old and stale trust can be modernized will benefit your clients and probably also your business because: ● Tax-related complexities of outdated or poorly worded irrevocable trusts—such as high tax rates on capital gains or undistributed income in such trusts, or the forfeited opportunity for a step-up in basis at a second death—may now be at odds with your clients’ goals and circumstances. An up-to-date trust can take advantage of opportunities to save taxes. ● Old trusts may limit your ability to wisely manage

Revocable Trusts Are The Solution to Your Client’s Needs

Posted by Robert L. Arone – Find Out What a Trust Can Do That a Will Can’t A revocable trust-centered estate plan offers many benefits a plain old last will and testament can’t. Trust-centered plans are better for clients and make your work easier. Understanding the benefits of trust-centered planning will position you as the trusted advisor who can spot the issues and implement solutions. How Your Practice Will Benefit When Your Clients Use Revocable Trusts You can retain assets under management: Assets will be kept private so your competitors and other predators don’t know who inherited what and how to contact them. Avoiding probate often reduces settlement costs significantly, leaving more assets for beneficiaries and for continued management. Assets held in trust can be protected against dissipation from lawsuits, divorces, bad decisions, and addictions, and these assets need continued management.

How You Can Protect Inherited IRAs

Posted by Robert L. Arone – The United States Supreme Court has determined that inherited IRAs are not protected from bankruptcy creditors. Although this development presents a serious risk for clients, it also presents a planning opportunity for financial advisors. How Protecting Inherited IRAs Benefits Financial Advisors If a retirement account is seized in a lawsuit, spent down on frivolities, or wrangled from a beneficiary by a predator, those assets leave your management. On the other hand, if assets remain protected in trust, they remain under your management for a lifetime. The change in law also provides a legitimate reason to contact your clients, review assets, and determine whether there are retirement accounts not yet under your management. And, when you spot a vulnerability, you provide more value and increase your clients’ confidence in your relationship. The Standalone Retirement Trust is the solution because in the absence of any creditor

How to Help Your Clients Avoid Probate

Posted by Robert L. Arone – Your clients likely set up a living trust with the goal of avoiding probate. When properly prepared and funded, a trust based estate plan will avoid the public, costly, and time-consuming probate court process. Shockingly, many people still make a big mistake, catapulting their assets and loved ones right into the oft dreaded probate court system. That mistake? They fail to fund their trust. How Do Financial Advisors Benefit from Helping Clients Fund Their Trusts? Collaborating with clients and their estate planning attorneys in the funding process will benefit both you and your clients: You will likely discover assets not yet under management that the client can consolidate with your firm – prior employer 401ks, scattered IRAs or investment accounts, or individual stocks or savings bonds that can be cashed in and invested. You will likely find product opportunities – life insurance needs (new

Three facts about estate planning in Massachusetts that you should know

By: Eric P. Rothenberg, Esq. – Estate planning in general means that you are engaging in financial planning, tax planning, and succession planning and we do this through the laws governing property, wills, and trusts. Here are three facts about Massachusetts law that you should know, which are very different from federal laws. Estate Tax. Federal taxes levied against the deceased’s taxable estate in Massachusetts are extremely high. The rate can be as steep as 55% of the assets in your federal estate which pass on to those to whom you them. Moreover, these taxes must be paid in cash. They must also generally be paid within nine months from the date of death. This get comes very quickly after one passes away due to the needs for grieving, immediate family needs and business needs. While under federal law a single person can die and pass on over $5.4 Million

Articles

Just When You Thought an Irrevocable Trust Couldn’t Be Changed: 5 Ways to Modify an Irrevocable Trust

Revocable Trusts Are The Solution to Your Client’s Needs

How You Can Protect Inherited IRAs

How to Help Your Clients Avoid Probate

Three facts about estate planning in Massachusetts that you should know

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© 2025 by Orsi Arone Rothenberg Turner, LLP. All rights reserved.

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Articles

Just When You Thought an Irrevocable Trust Couldn’t Be Changed: 5 Ways to Modify an Irrevocable Trust

Revocable Trusts Are The Solution to Your Client’s Needs

How You Can Protect Inherited IRAs

How to Help Your Clients Avoid Probate

Three facts about estate planning in Massachusetts that you should know

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How Can We Help?

© 2025 by Orsi Arone Rothenberg Turner, LLP. All rights reserved.

Attorney Marketing by Bardorf Legal Marketing

Have A Question?