John Shoro, Managing Partner and immediate past Estate, Financial & Tax Planning Practice Area Leader, is a highly-respected trust, estate, and tax lawyer, helping clients in Massachusetts and Florida with their sophisticated tax, administration and planning needs. He serves many of his trust and estate clients as a Personal Representative and trustee, frequently interacting one-on-one with beneficiaries, drafting documents, and handling investments and complex tax issues. His clients include business owners, professionals, executives and other high net worth individuals. He regularly handles matters involving:
- Business succession, exit and tax planning
- Individual income tax planning
- Illiquidity, usually through insurance and real estate
- Elder law and
- Trust and estate administration
John also handles tax matters related to the sale, acquisition and reorganization of businesses. While he often helps younger business people and their families, he has many clients approaching retirement age, as well as clients that he’s gotten to know well as a result of being with the firm for over 30 years. John often quarterbacks client teams comprising other outside experts, such as accountants, insurance advisors and financial advisors. John states, “This team approach is useful in various situations, especially when we’re helping the client figure out a succession or exit strategy.”
Besides work
John is a golfer and a big baseball fan. “I love the Red Sox.”
Affiliations
- Accredited Estate Planner®, National Association of Estate Planners & Councils (NAEPC)
- Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel
- Member, Massachusetts Bar Association Tax Section and Probate and Real Property Sections
- Member, Estate and Business Planning Council of Worcester County
- Corporator and Scholarship Committee Member, Greater Worcester Community Foundation
- Member, Boston Estate Planning Council
- Estate Planning and Administration Advisory Committee, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc.
- Ad hoc committee of Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, which studied and reported to the Court on trust reformations for tax purposes in Massachusetts
- Member, Florida Bar Association Probate Section and Tax Sections
- Member, Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts
Previous
- Former President, Estate and Business Planning Council of Worcester County
- Former Chairperson, Tax Law Section, Massachusetts Bar Association
- Past Chair, Massachusetts Bar Association Tax Section Council
Honors
- Best Lawyers in America, selected by his peers for inclusion in the fields of Trusts and Estates (since 2017), Elder Law (since 2022) and Tax Law (2023 and 2024)
- Best Lawyers in America “Lawyer of the Year” for Trusts and Estates, 2020, 2022 and 2024
- Selected to Massachusetts Super Lawyers since 2004 for Estate Planning & Probate
Articles + Talks
Articles
- “Estate Planning Under President-Elect Trump,” Massachusetts Society of CPAs, January 12, 2017
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“ViewPoint: GE Deal Proves ‘Taxachusetts’ Label is More Like the ‘Myth of Massachusetts’,” Boston Business Journal, January 22, 2016
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Contributing author to Aspatore Books’ Inside the Minds publications on Best Practices for Structuring Trusts and Estates and Family and Business Succession Planning Strategies
Talks
- Presented to executives of publicly-traded retailer on irrevocable trusts, selling a business or transferring a business to a child, and transferring wealth to future generations. November 2021.
- Presented to executives of publicly-traded retailer on irrevocable trusts, selling a business or transferring a business to a child, and transferring wealth to future generations. May 28, 2020 and June 3, 2020.
Bar Admissions
- Massachusetts
- Florida
- Connecticut
Education
- LL.M., Taxation, Boston University School of Law
- J.D., Boston University School of Law; Editor-in-Chief, National College of Probate Judges and Boston University Probate Law Journal
- B.A., cum laude, Boston College
A stockholder’s sudden death raises several business and family issues
When the majority stockholder of a small, inherited family business died suddenly in his 50’s, John’s client was faced with several difficult issues. “We had prepared the man’s estate plan as well as his parents’ plans, so we knew the business and the family well and recognized the different interests of all of the parties. One of our priorities was to keep this manufacturing business running while we were dealing with distribution of the estate to the non-working widow, the children and the siblings, who were stockholders but not involved in running the business.” John also knew that the plan called for positioning the second-generation, Massachusetts-based business for sale. He worked closely with the client’s accountant to put a strategy in place featuring key employees, with incentives for the employees to stay on. The business sold quickly, and the proceeds went to the estate. Trusts were created for the widow and children along with individual life insurance, and resources for the family were maximized.
Complex individual and corporate tax planning involving a charity
The client was a business person with real estate held by the business and leased to a non-profit charity. He wanted to reduce his estate and income tax burden and maintain cash flow. John helped the firm’s client plan and create a charitable remainder trust funded with the real estate, getting it out of his estate for tax purposes and obtaining an income tax charitable deduction.
Other experience
Tax and wealth management
- Assisted business owners in developing and implementing tax efficient succession plans and exit strategies.
- Together with personnel from trust department, tax preparation group and B&D Advisors, provides clients with sophisticated income, gift and estate tax planning and investment advice to maximize wealth and minimize taxes.
- Aid multiple generations of client families in coordinating tax and wealth management strategies to benefit future generations.
Estate planning and administration
- Advises older clients and their families regarding long-term care and benefits planning.
- Serves as trustee of numerous trusts and as Personal Representative of various estates.
Business planning and counsel
- Works with B&D Advisors to provide integrated investment, financial planning and estate planning advice to clients regarding their personal assets and retirement accounts, including assuming responsibility for funding their revocable trusts to avoid probate and serving as their trustee.
- Corporate executives to structure and implement plans to benefit both family members and philanthropic interests.
- Several physicians in connection with practice structure, estate planning and individual planning, including the creation and management of trusts.
- Creates limited partnerships, limited liability companies and trusts for asset protection and wealth preservation purposes.
Publications
News
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Seventeen Bowditch Attorneys Named to 2023 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
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23 Bowditch Attorneys Recognized in the 2024 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America® and 10 Bowditch Attorneys Recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America™
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Eighteen Bowditch Attorneys Named to 2022 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
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22 Bowditch Attorneys Recognized in the 2023 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America® and 5 Bowditch Attorneys Recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America™