Estate Planning as an Enduring Act of Love
By Claire Crowley and Ben Palkowski, Old Colony Law
Published In Northampton Living | February 2026
For married couples, engaging in estate planning is not only advantageous from a financial perspective, it ensures that spouses have the legal authority to care for each other during life and protects the surviving spouse from the intrusion of the court. Married couples who do not engage in estate planning risk exposing each other to court intervention and financial and emotional burdens that come with picking up the pieces after the incapacity or death of a spouse.
While marriage itself provides many rights under the law, estate planning must be engaged in proactively. However, just like you wouldn’t gift your spouse a box of chocolates with missing pieces on Valentine’s Day, an estate plan must be complete in order to be effective. At a minimum, we recommend that married couples have wills, powers of attorney and health care proxies, in addition to an understanding of their assets.
Estate planning for married couples is essential in Massachusetts, where spouses do not have the automatic legal authority to act on each other’s behalf. Incapacity can happen for a variety of reasons, including accidents, illness and injuries. Imagine having to go to court to get permission to handle your spouse’s financial affairs or to communicate with their medical providers and government agencies on their behalf. Married couples should be sure to have updated powers of attorney and health care proxies so that they have the legal authority to handle their spouse’s financial and medical affairs in the event of incapacity during life. In addition to naming each other in these documents, married couples are encouraged to name backup agents in the event that both spouses are incapacitated.
Another common misconception is that, upon the death of the first spouse, all of the assets that were owned by the first spouse pass automatically to the surviving spouse. Surviving spouses are often surprised to discover that they must go to probate court in order to access their deceased spouse’s financial accounts. This is frequently the case when married couples assume that they owned assets jointly, when in fact the assets were owned individually and when beneficiary designations are missing, incomplete or inaccurate. Delays in accessing a deceased spouse’s financial assets and the costs of probate can be avoided with proper planning and coordinating and updating beneficiary designations.
Claire Crowley & Ben Palkowski
Estate Planning Attorneys
Old Colony Law
413 387 0080
oldcolonylaw.com
Estate planning for married couples also provides the opportunity to minimize or eliminate federal and state estate taxes upon the death of the surviving spouse. In Massachusetts, the estate tax exemption is $2 million per person. However, in order for a couple to shield $4 million from Massachusetts estate tax, estate tax planning is required while both spouses are still alive. This type of planning allows for more assets to pass estate-tax free to children and grandchildren.
While a conversation about estate planning might not seem like a romantic way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, it’s an act of love that will provide security against the unknowns in life – a gift that will last longer than chocolate, wine and flowers.
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