Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts

Trusts need to be carefully drafted to make sure that the maker's intentions are carried out while protecting the interests of the beneficiary, the trustee and the remainder beneficiaries. A badly drafted irrevocable trust cannot be fixed without a court order. Unless you fully understand the intricate relationship between federal and state tax laws and Massachusetts trust law (not to mention Medicaid regulations, if that's what you have in mind), you shouldn't touch this project with a ten-foot pole. See an experienced elder law or estate planning attorney for assistance.

Attorney Golden is correct. An irrevocable trust can be an even more powerful document than a revocable trust. The irrevocable trust can provide significant tax and other planning benefits, but also requires that the settlor relinquish certain power and access to the trust property. You really should have an experienced estate planning attorney prepare this document for you. The cost of a mistake could exceed the cost of hiring an attorney by hundreds or millions of dollars.

An irrevocable trust means you are relinquishing all rights to the property placed in it. Likewise if you are retaining a life estate or life income from the trust you cannot be the Trustee. Irrevocalbe Trusts require a court order to be changed, so I strongly suggest you have an attorney draw one up for you.

If you are seeking Qualified Personal Residence Trust, a specfic form of Irrevocable Trust, you should have an attorney do it for you or you could be placing yourself in a very bad situation. Document preparation services make many mistakes and I would not trust any of them to do an irrevocable trust. I have had to fix the mistakes made by various document preparation services many times at costs of more than having an attorney prepare the documents originally.