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Estate Planning for Lottery Winners
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Estate Planning for Lottery Winners

Have you won a Massachusetts lottery prize?!?! Congratulations!!!

Winning the lottery is a positive (and negative) life-changing event, which is why having a plan in place is important. Think about it: if other people know you won the lottery, you become a target for requests for money. The goal is to keep your new good fortune to yourself to avoid those requests from distant relatives, old (and new!) friends, among many others.

Here’s the issue: Massachusetts requires major lottery prize winners ($5,000 or more) to have their picture taken to promote the Lottery. Pictures of winners appear on the Massachusetts State Lottery website – and even get picked up on the nightly news – for all the world to see.

The solution is for you to avoid that publicity by setting up a trust. You are the beneficiary, and the Trustee you name would claim the lottery prize on your behalf. The Trustee’s picture (not yours) is published when they collect the lottery prize. Better yet, the winnings can be in your hands in a matter of days.

Working with an experienced attorney to establish a trust that protects your identity will protect you and your lottery winnings from unwanted attention.

Please feel free to contact us about your lottery prize.