Why Is Estate Planning Important for Single Seniors?
Single individuals—especially those who are older—need estate planning just as much as, if not more than, the married and wealthy. Without proper planning, a single senior’s death or incapacity can wreak havoc on their family and cause numerous unintended problems, including complications with the care they may require as they age.
Our attorneys work with people at all stages of their lives to protect what they value most. If you are a single senior, contact us so we can discuss the type of estate plan that best suits your needs. The strategies we use will address any of the following issues of importance in your particular situation:
- Asset distribution: Without an estate plan, state laws dictate how assets are distributed, potentially excluding loved ones or favored charitable causes.
- Healthcare preferences: A plan can specify healthcare directives, ensuring medical decisions align with your personal wishes if you become incapacitated.
- Avoiding probate delays: Proper planning can minimize delays and costs associated with probate, ensuring the efficient transfer of assets to beneficiaries.
- Tax efficiency: Estate plans can include strategies to minimize tax liabilities and preserve more assets for beneficiaries and causes that are most important to you.
What Are the Various Estate Planning Tools That Can Help Me?
If you are a single senior, there are several tools that can help you properly plan your estate, including:
Last Will and Testament
Also known simply as a will, this document governs the management and distribution of your property after you pass away. It names the person you want to be your personal representative (executor).
Durable Power of Attorney
In the event a serious physical or mental impairment renders you incapacitated, this document allows you to name someone to manage your personal, financial, and business matters.
Health Care Proxy
Your health care proxy names the individual you select to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to communicate your wishes.
HIPAA Release Form
Your HIPAA Release Form authorizes your healthcare providers to disclose your medical information to the individuals you specify in the document. This form provides you with control over your personal healthcare information and protects your privacy.
Advance Directive (Living Will)
Although not legally binding, this document is used to declare what sort of end-of-life care you want or do not want in the event that you are at the end of your life with no expectation of recovery.
What If I Die Without a Will?
Dying without a will, known as dying intestate, can lead to serious and unintended consequences. When this happens, state laws determine how your estate is distributed, meaning that the government—not you—decides what happens to your assets.
Understanding Intestate Laws
Massachusetts intestate laws describe the sequence of inheritance that must be followed in the absence of the deceased’s explicit instructions. Assets with designated beneficiaries, such as life insurance policies or retirement accounts, pass to the surviving beneficiary whether or not there is a will. However, other property will be distributed according to intestate succession if there is no will.

Order of Succession (Laws of Survivorship) in Massachusetts
In Massachusetts, if you are unmarried at the time of your passing and you do not have a will, your property first goes to any children you may have. If you don’t have children, it will go to your parents. If they are not alive, the estate passes to your siblings. Without any of these relatives, your assets are distributed to your next of kin, which could be a distant cousin you may have never met. If no relatives are alive, your estate may revert to the state (be escheated).
Many prefer that someone they trust, like a close friend, inherit their property rather than a distant relative. Others wish to leave their assets to a charitable organization they care about as a legacy. By creating an estate plan, you can ensure that your assets go to a specific religious, educational, or other institution of your choice. It all starts with having a properly executed will.
Why Would I Need Anything Beyond a Will?
Estate planning deals with more than just the property you leave behind when you die. If you’re a single senior, you need to consider these questions:
- What if I am incapacitated? Who will pay my mortgage and bills and manage my investments?
- Who will oversee my home and real property if something renders me unable to do so?
- If I am in the hospital and can’t take care of my pets, who will?
- What happens if I am in an accident and cannot make decisions about my healthcare?
- Who decides whether I am kept alive by artificial means if I am incapable of deciding for myself?
These and many other matters aren’t covered by a will or Massachusetts intestate laws. Instead, they are best addressed through a durable power of attorney, health care proxy, and advance directive, which ensure your wishes are followed during incapacity.
How Can a Durable Power of Attorney Help a Single Senior?
If you live alone, you may not have anyone readily available to manage your bills and personal obligations if you become injured or incapacitated. This can be particularly challenging for seniors who rely on careful management of their retirement funds to cover living expenses. By establishing a durable power of attorney, you can appoint a trusted individual to handle these responsibilities on your behalf. Ideally, this person should have financial expertise and be familiar with the types of assets and accounts you hold.
How Can a Health Care Proxy and Advance Directive Help a Single Senior?
If you live alone, you may not have anyone readily available to manage your bills and personal obligations if you become injured or incapacitated. This can be particularly challenging for seniors who rely on careful management of their retirement funds to cover living expenses. By establishing a durable power of attorney, you can appoint a trusted individual to handle these responsibilities on your behalf. Ideally, this person should have financial expertise and be familiar with the types of assets and accounts you hold.
How Can a Health Care Proxy and Advance Directive Help a Single Senior?
A healthcare proxy and advance directive are crucial tools for single seniors, ensuring their medical preferences are honored if they become incapacitated. A health care proxy allows you to appoint a trusted person to make medical decisions on your behalf, while an advance directive outlines your wishes for specific treatments, including end-of-life care. Without these documents, the court may appoint someone unfamiliar with your values and preferences. By having both in place, single seniors can maintain control over their healthcare and receive the treatment they desire, even when they can’t speak for themselves.
End-of-Life Decisions
End-of-life decisions are deeply personal, and a healthcare proxy combined with an advance directive ensures your wishes are respected. These documents allow you to outline specific preferences, such as whether you want life-sustaining treatments, resuscitation, or comfort care. By detailing your choices in advance, you prevent uncertainty and ease the emotional burden on loved ones, ensuring that medical professionals follow your wishes. This is particularly important for single seniors who may not have immediate family to make these decisions.
Long-Term Care Planning
Planning for long-term care is essential, especially for single seniors who may not have family members to provide assistance. A healthcare proxy allows you to appoint someone to manage your healthcare needs, including long-term care decisions, if you become incapacitated. This could involve decisions about in-home care, nursing facilities, or assisted living arrangements. By proactively establishing a plan, you can choose a trusted individual to advocate for your preferences, helping you maintain the quality of life and independence you desire.

What Is the Best Trust for a Single Senior?
At Surprenant & Beneski, our attorneys possess extensive knowledge of various trusts and their unique purposes. We work closely with single seniors to create trusts that are not only advantageous but also tailored to their individual financial situations and specific goals. Whether you’re looking to protect assets, provide for loved ones, or support charitable causes, we’ll guide you in selecting the best option for your needs. Here are some of the trusts we often recommend and draft for our single senior clients.
Revocable Living Trust
A revocable living trust allows you to maintain control over your assets during your lifetime while specifying how they should be managed and distributed if you become incapacitated or upon your passing—without court involvement. It helps you avoid the delays and expenses associated with probate, ensuring a smoother transition. Additionally, it keeps your financial affairs private, as probate is a public process. This type of trust is flexible, allowing you to modify or revoke it as your circumstances or wishes change.
Asset Protection Trusts
Asset protection trusts are designed to safeguard your wealth from potential creditors, lawsuits, or other financial threats. These trusts are particularly beneficial for single seniors who want to ensure their assets are secure while retaining some level of control or access during their lifetime. By transferring assets into an asset protection trust, you create a legal barrier that keeps your property out of reach from creditors. This type of trust can be customized to protect different kinds of assets, such as real estate, investment accounts, or personal property. It also allows you to plan for future care needs or ensure assets are preserved for loved ones or charitable causes.
Testamentary Trusts
A testamentary trust is established through your will and becomes active only after your death. This type of trust is particularly useful for single seniors who want to control how their assets are distributed to beneficiaries, ensuring their wishes are followed precisely. Testamentary trusts allow you to set conditions for distributions, such as age milestones for children or specific purposes like education or healthcare. Unlike living trusts, testamentary trusts go through probate since they are part of your will. However, they provide flexibility and control, allowing you to outline how and when your assets are managed and distributed. This option is especially helpful for those who want to support loved ones while safeguarding their financial legacy.
Who Inherits a Single Person’s Estate?
When a single person has an estate plan in place, they have full control over how their assets are distributed, ensuring their wishes are followed. This allows them to choose specific beneficiaries—whether close family members, friends, or charities—ensuring their estate benefits the people or causes they care about most.
Estate Planning With Heirs
Estate planning with heirs allows you to clearly outline how your assets should be distributed among your chosen beneficiaries, such as children, siblings, or other relatives. By creating a will or trust, you can specify what each heir will receive, minimizing the risk of disputes and ensuring your wishes are honored. It also provides an opportunity to set conditions, such as age requirements or specific uses for the inheritance, ensuring that your legacy supports your loved ones in the way you intend.
Estate Planning Without Heirs
Estate planning without heirs allows single individuals to direct their assets according to their values and interests. Without immediate family members to inherit, you can choose to leave your estate to friends, charitable organizations, or causes you are passionate about, such as education, healthcare, or the arts. Establishing a will or trust ensures that your assets are used meaningfully, reflecting your personal legacy. It also prevents the state from making these decisions on your behalf, allowing you to have full control over your estate’s future.

Steps to Create an Estate Plan
A comprehensive estate plan helps single seniors maintain control over their affairs and avoid uncertainty. Below are the key steps when developing an estate plan.
1. Inventory Assets and Liabilities
The first step in estate planning is to take a thorough inventory of your assets and liabilities. This includes everything from real estate and bank accounts to retirement funds, life insurance policies, and valuable personal property. It’s also important to account for any liabilities, such as mortgages, loans, or debts. Having a clear understanding of your financial situation allows you to determine the value of your estate, which is essential for planning how your assets will be managed and distributed.
2. Identify Goals and Objectives
Once you have an accurate picture of your assets and liabilities, the next step is to identify your estate planning goals. Consider what you want to achieve—do you wish to provide for close friends or distant relatives, support a charity, or ensure that your assets are managed to sustain your long-term care needs? It’s also important to think about healthcare decisions and how you want those to be handled if you become incapacitated. Defining these goals helps create a plan that aligns with your values and needs.
3. Choose Fiduciaries (Personal Representative, Trustee, etc.)
Choosing the right fiduciaries is vital for single seniors, as they will manage your estate and carry out your wishes. Common fiduciaries include a personal representative (to handle your will), a trustee (for any trusts), and agents for powers of attorney (financial) and health care proxy. It’s essential to choose individuals who are responsible, trustworthy, and familiar with your preferences, especially if you don’t have immediate family to rely on. Selecting the right people ensures that your affairs will be managed according to your wishes if you are unable to make decisions yourself.
4. Draft, Review, and Execute Foundational Estate Planning Documents
After setting your goals and choosing your fiduciaries, the next step is to draft the necessary legal documents. For single seniors, this typically includes a will, one or more trusts, a durable power of attorney for financial matters, and a health care proxy and advance directive for medical decisions. These documents formalize your wishes, designate beneficiaries, and empower your chosen fiduciaries to act on your behalf. An estate planning attorney can help ensure these documents are legally valid and customized to fit your needs.
5. Review and Update Regularly
An estate plan isn’t a one-time task; it should be reviewed and updated regularly to stay effective. For single seniors, life events such as changes in health, finances, or relationships can have significant implications for your estate plan. Additionally, legal changes may impact your strategy. Regularly reviewing your estate plan with your attorney ensures that it remains up-to-date and reflects your current circumstances and wishes, providing ongoing protection and peace of mind.
Why an Experienced Attorney Is Preferable to a DIY Estate Plan
While DIY estate planning tools may seem convenient and cost-effective, they often fail to address the complexities and specific needs of an individual’s situation. An experienced attorney offers personalized guidance, ensuring your estate plan is legally sound, comprehensive, and tailored to your unique circumstances. They can help you navigate intricate matters such as tax implications, asset protection strategies, healthcare directives, and selecting the right fiduciaries.
An attorney can anticipate potential legal challenges or disputes, helping to minimize the risk of your plan being contested later. By working with a professional, you gain peace of mind knowing that your estate plan will be executed accurately and according to your wishes.
How to Find the Right Estate Planning Attorney for Your Situation
When looking for the right estate planning attorney, it’s important to choose someone experienced in similar cases. Research their credentials, read client testimonials, and ask for referrals from trusted sources. Schedule a consultation to assess their experience, communication style, and how well they listen to your needs and goals. Make sure they understand Massachusetts laws and can offer customized solutions.
Let Our Southeastern Massachusetts Estate Planning Attorneys Help
At Surprenant & Beneski, P.C., we pride ourselves on providing personalized estate planning services for single seniors, ensuring your unique needs are met and your future is secure. Our tailored approach provides peace of mind, protecting your assets and wishes through wills, trusts, and healthcare directives. Contact us today to create a plan that offers lasting security and confidence.
