The Hidden Tax Consequences of Dividing a High Net Worth Estate in Massachusetts — and How to Avoid the Most Expensive Mistakes
By Janice Berner, CDFA, CPA, MBA | High Net Worth Divorce Financial Planning, Boston & Eastern MassachusettsTwo accounts with identical balances are not the same asset. A brokerage account holding $600,000 in securities purchased fifteen years ago carries a tax liability embedded in its unrealized gains that does not appear anywhere on the account statement. A Roth IRA with the same $600,000 balance has no such liability. A settlement that divides those two accounts equally by face value and calls it done has not divided anything equally. It has transferred the tax burden onto one spouse and called it fair. As a high net worth divorce financial planner and CPA working with couples in Massachusetts, this is one of the most common and most costly structural errors I see in divorce sett...
