How We Help Estates and Trusts

We help trustees and executors fulfill their tax duties in administering trusts and estates. We help them track trust and estate assets. We work with trust advisors to ensure asset values reflect changes in basis as a result of a death or gift. We review trust documents with an eye towards planning and accurate, practical trust accounting. We collaborate with trust and estate attorneys to develop and deploy strategies to preserve family wealth for generations. Here are some ways we help:

Lifetime Planning for a Family Legacy

The matriarch of a close-knit family was ailing. JS+A worked with the family’s attorney and investment advisor to develop an efficient tax plan to minimize Massachusetts estate tax and future capital gain for the family.

Trust Tax Reporting and Planning

A trust is a powerful way to preserve and transfer family wealth and, if done right, family values. JS+A advisors are skilled at interpreting trust provisions to minimize tax – and, just as importantly, to implement the wishes of the trust grantors while complying with applicable law. Among other projects, JS+A has

• recommended trust accounting policies to limit total family tax

• designed college savings strategies that make efficient use of trusts

• cleaned up numerous errors in the management and reporting of a trust that, among other things, held an interest in an IRA

• advised trustees of a charitable trust on important dos and don’ts that can trigger IRS penalties and worse