Home Downsizing Estate Planning Checklist (Massachusetts 2025)
Downsizing is a natural checkpoint for your estate plan. You’re already organizing documents, evaluating accounts, and thinking about the next address. So, this is the moment to make sure your legal and financial pieces agree with one another. The aim is simple: clarity for you now, and simplicity for loved ones later.
Start with the core documents. A clear will names who’s in charge and where things go. A revocable living trust doesn’t reduce taxes by itself, but it can keep affairs private and help assets transfer without probate. Add a durable power of attorney and a health‑care proxy so someone you trust can act if you can’t. Finally, align beneficiary designations on bank, retirement, and life‑insurance accounts with what your documents say. If they conflict, the beneficiary form usually wins—so update those forms now, not after closing.
Massachusetts adds a few state‑specific considerations. The estate‑tax threshold is $2 million, with a credit that eliminates tax at or below that threshold and reduces it above. The state also strengthened Homestead protection—owners who occupy their home as a primary residence can file a Declaration of Homestead for up to $1,000,000 in protection against certain unsecured creditor claims (automatic protection without filing is lower). If your sale proceeds will increase your estate value, decide ahead of time where funds will land (trust vs. individual) and make sure you’ll have liquidity for any potential tax—no one wants to sell assets in a rush.
If you plan to share proceeds, the annual gift exclusion is $19,000 per recipient in 2025. Document gifts with a short memo and proof of transfer, and coordinate timing with your move to avoid cash‑flow hiccups. Direct payments to medical providers or schools are another option in the right circumstances but they don’t count against the annual exclusion.
Round out your plan with an information kit your fiduciaries can use. One page is enough. List your advisors, account institutions, policy numbers, digital logins (a password manager helps), trust certificates, and the location of originals. Keep one digital copy and one paper copy in safe places and tell your fiduciaries where to find both. If you’re moving into a condo, include the management company’s contact, master‑insurance details, and where association documents live.
For clients in Natick, Wellesley, Needham, and nearby towns, I can connect you with financial planners and estate attorneys who coordinate real‑estate closings, trust, and post‑closing titling so nothing falls through the cracks. If you’d like a concise estate‑planning checklist tailored to a home sale, Contact Us.
