THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, August 22, 2025 Page 17 OBITUARIES Mary Bernadette (Fitzpatrick) Cargill her life. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The American Cancer Society. Lois Jane (LeFave) Cucinotta T Of Melrose MA. Passed away peacefully on Monday, August 18th with her family by her side. She was 74. Born January 23, 1951, in Malden MA, she was a 1969 graduate of Malden High School and spent many years as a Patient Care Technician at the Malden and Melrose/Wakefield Hospitals. “Mom” lived a life marked by devotion to her family and faith in God. She loved her husband unconditionally and together they would have shared 54 years of love, partnership, and faith on August 21st - their wedding anniversary. She is survived by her loving husband, Peter Cargill Sr; her children Peter Jr (Elizabeth), Shannon (Jay) & Philip Sr (Nicole) and her beloved grandchildren, Colin, Philip Jr, Jack, Kyle, Harper, Claire, Louella & Jeffrey. She was sister to Tim Fitzpatrick and his wife Jackie, as well as three brothers and two sisters. Though she has left this world, her legacy of faith, love, and family endures. She will be deeply missed, but her spirit will remain in the hearts of all who knew and loved her. A wake will be held on Monday, August 25th (4:00 PM700PM) at Gately Funeral Home in Melrose, 79 W. Foster St. A Mass of Christian burial will be held on Tuesday, August 26th (11:00AM) at St. Mary’s Church in Melrose. Family and friends are invited to attend and celebrate Of Malden. Passed away on August 14, 2025 at the age of 85. Lois was born in Stoneham and was a longtime resident of Malden. She was a homemaker and also worked as a waitress at Anthony’s Restaurant in Malden for many years. Lois loved raising her family and spending time with family, friends. She will be fondly remembered and greatly missed. Lois was married to Peter Cucinotta, her loving husband with whom she shared over 52 years. She leaves her children Cheryl Burkhead, Maureen Farnsworth, Carolyn Skane, Christine Sinagra and her husband John and the late Cathy Cucinotta. Lois was Grammy to 11 grandchildren, 14 great-granchildren and 1 greatgreat grandchild. She is also survived by ever faithful nieces and nephew in California and was a very special “Nana Lois” to a very special family whom she considered her family. A service was held at the A. J. Spadafora Funeral Home, Malden on Tuesday, August Relatives Visitation was held on Monday, August. Interment will be in Forest Dale Cemetery, Malden. In lieu of flowers, donations in Lois’ memory can be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital @ https://www.stjude.org. For Advertising with Results, call The Advocate Newspapers at 617-387-2200 orInfo@advocatenews.net here are several reasons why one might look to a transfer to an irrevocable trust instead of an outright gift of assets to children. Below are a few of those reasons: 1. If a parent simply makes a gift of an appreciated asset to a child, for example, upon that parent’s death there is no “stepup” in cost basis equal to the fair market value of the asset as of the date of death. Whatever that person paid for the asset originally, becomes the cost basis in the hands of the children and on a subsequent sale there may very well be a significant capital gain. The asset could be appreciated real estate or stock. We refer to the cost basis tax concept where a parent simply makes an outright gift to a child as “carryover cost basis”.A properly drafted irrevocable trust will provide for the step-up in cost basis of the appreciated asset so that upon the individual’s death, the fair market value at that point in time is used to determine cost basis going forward. The trust is drafted so as to include the asset as part of the taxable estate. If the gross estate is less than $15 million for federal estate tax purposes (as of 1-1-26), there will be no federal estate tax. In Massachusetts, the exemption has now risen to $2million. So in all likelihood, there will be no federal estate tax (and possibly no Massachusetts estate tax as well) to be paid upon death and the children will get to use the fair market value at date of death for purposes of determining capital gains and losses in the future. That is certainly a lot better than using the purchase price of the asset 50 years ago IRREVOCABLE TRUSTS as the children’s starting point. 2. Control of assets. If assets are transferred to an irrevocable trust, the Settlor/Donor of the Trust can still maintain control over the trust assets by serving as Trustee. Even if the Settlor/ Donor is not the Trustee, he or she can retain the power to remove the Trustee and name a successor trustee if he or she is not happy with the way the trust is being administered. If serving as Trustee of an irrevocable trust, the Settlor/Donor would not need the consent of the children to sell real estate that is housed in the trust. He or she could sell the real estate, invest in another piece of real estate or sell the real estate and simply invest the sales proceeds in a stock, bond, or mutual fund portfolio, money market account, annuity, etc. The key is that the irrevocable Trust must be drafted properly if the Settlor/Donor of the Trust is to serve as Trustee. The Settlor/Donor cannot, under any circumstances, be entitled to receive any principal from the Trust. Only income can be distributed to the Settlor/Donor of such a Trust. 3. The irrevocable Trust has significant more safeguards in terms of protecting the trust principal. Creditors of the children would not be able to attach the assets while held in the irrevocable trust. If the assets were given to the children directly, no such protection would be provided. There are so-called “spendthrift” provisions that are designed to protect the beneficiary’s interest that is held in the irrevocable trust. The Settlor/Donor has the right under well-settled trust law to include such provisions in order to protect children against possible future creditors, spouses in a divorce proceeding or even against a bankruptcy filing. 4. The irrevocable trust will also protect a beneficiary’s own children if that beneficiary were to die prematurely. The beneficiary’s share will remain in trust for his or her own children with the trustee able to distribute income and/or principal for the children’s health, education, maintenance and support. Only at certain ages would the children be able to demand from the trustee to withdraw his or her share of the trust. If a beneficiary is incompetent, or if the beneficiary is suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction or a gambling addiction, the trustee would have discretion not to allow for distributions of principal, which would only result in the money being squandered. Only an irrevocable trust can provide for this feature. Outright gifts simply cannot. 5. Capital gains exclusion on the sale of the home. An irrevocable trust will also provide for the Internal Revenue Code Section 121 capital gain exclusion on the sale of the principal residence in the amount of $250,000 for a single taxpayer and $500,000 for a married couple. Even though the house is placed in the trust, the exclusion will still apply. This avoids the situation where the house is sold by the children who might be the remainder men on the deed subject to a life estate in the mother or father. If the children do not live in the home, no exclusion is available to them. Only the portion of the sale attributable to the value of the life estate will be afforded the capital gain exclusion. Furthermore, if the mother or father were on the verge of going into a nursing home, the sales proceeds attributable to the mother or father would have to be spent down on nursing home care. No such problem exists with an irrevocable trust. The irrevocable Trust is drafted as a grantor-type Trust thereby allowing the Settlor/Donor to take advantage of the capital gain exclusion on the sale of the principal residence. Joseph D. Cataldo is an estate planning/elder law attorney, Certified Public Accountant, Certified Financial Planner, AICPA Personal Financial Specialist and holds a master’s degree in taxation.
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