When to Have it Reviewed they all have a common theme, and that is - PDF document

Wills: Preparing For Your Passing By George N. Saliba, Managing Editor P icture this: A man’s wife dies at an early age and he then are often focused on creating and growing their businesses (and marries another woman who helps raise – but never for- not thinking about their own deaths); and, among other things, mally adopts – his children from the prior marriage. In wills need to be updated over the years. time, the man dies and leaves nearly everything to his second “People generally can’t conceive of their own death,” Green- wife. Then the second wife dies intestate (without a will). berg explains. “Everybody knows that nobody lives forever, but Stephen M. Greenberg, shareholder at Flaster/Greenberg it’s not something that the human brain really contemplates. We (the law fi rm with offi ces in Cherry Hill, Egg Harbor Township, all have very, very busy lives and wills are easily pushed to the Morristown, Trenton, Vineland and two other states), says, “She back burner.” didn’t have a will and as a result, the fi ve children have been disinherited. I suspect that was not what either [the husband or Compelling Reasons the wife] wanted. Ultimately, the assets are going to the wife’s brothers, who were elderly themselves and frankly, somewhat Sandra Brown Sherman, a partner in Riker, Danzig, Scher- greedy. And there is really nothing I can do about it, because of er, Hyland & Perretti LLP’s tax, trusts and estates practice (the the intestate laws.” fi rm has offi ces in Morristown, Trenton, Manhattan and Lon- Wills are important, and New Jersey attorneys remark that don), says dying intestate is “terrible” for a couple of reasons. people procrastinate about creating wills because: contemplating First, nearly every will forgives the bonding requirement, so the one’s mortality isn’t pleasant; businessmen and businesswomen executor and trustees don’t have to obtain a potentially expen- N e w J e r s e y B u s i n e s s 1

Taxes In the past, the federal government had an estate tax death credit, in which state governments essentially received some revenue. However, the federal government gradually phased the credit out, and today, many states have enacted their own tax, separate from the federal system, to compensate for the lost revenue. New Jersey imposes an estate tax on residents whose assets exceed $675,000, but do not pass to a surviving spouse or a charity. There are ways to help address the estate tax, such as estab- lishing residence in another state, as one grows older. When to Create a Will Attorneys interviewed for this article express various opin- ions regarding when one should create a will. For example, Allan C. Bell, partner-in-charge of the estate planning group at Sills Cummis Epstein & Gross (offi ces in Newark, Manhattan Rita M. Danylchuk, chair of the private client group at and Princeton), says a will should be created “once [a person] Gibbons, P.C., Newark reaches the age of majority and has any assets.” Gary J. Hoagland, managing partner at Hoagland, Longo, Moran, Dunst & Doukas (offi ces in New Brunswick, Clinton, sive indemnity bond to protect against the fact that they might New York City and Buffalo, N.Y.), says, “We generally see peo- steal assets. She also stresses that intestacy laws may not pass ple come in for wills at three different times in their lives. One property as one would like (as in the above example), or pro- would be when they have kids, a second one is when they are vide, say, trusts for minor children. about to go in the hospital, and a third reason is when they are Michael N. Gooen, chair of the trust and estates group at leaving on a trip.” Lowenstein Sandler, P.C. (the fi rm with offi ces in Roseland and Manhattan), adds, “By creating a trust under a will, or by fund- Who Should Draft a Will? ing such a trust during one’s life, a person can implement virtu- ally anything they want. There are limits on what one can do to Does one need an attorney who specializes in wills and es- disinherit a spouse – and there are certain things you can’t put in tates? Sills Cummis’ Bell says yes – one should not use the per- trust because public policy prohibits them. But mostly you can son who created a closely-held business or handled a real estate do whatever you want -- as long as you have a skilled attorney closing. draft it for you.” “You should use somebody who does this on a regular ba- sis,” he explains. “It is complex and I have seen clients go to Protecting Loved Ones lawyers who don’t practice in [wills] and the [lawyers] pick up a form book and do something that is not appropriate for that Greenberg, at Flaster/Greenberg, notes that a will names particular client, or is just plain wrong . . .” guardians for minor children, so they don’t become wards of the Meanwhile, Karen M. Stockmal, an attorney specializing in state or subject to a court helping decide who is going to be the estates and business planning at Pepper Hamilton, LLP (offi ces children’s guardian. In addition, if both the mother and father in Princeton and 10 other locales) says, “The most important el- perish in, say, a car accident and leave orphans, trusts can ensure ement to fi nding an attorney to work with you in this regard is to assets get passed to the children at appropriate ages. fi nd someone whom you trust: someone who you can talk to, and Greenberg says, “Even if you have left substantial life insur- who is responsive to you in whatever ways are most important. ance, you may not want to put six or seven fi gures into the hands For some clients, it’s fi nding an attorney with a type of working of a 21-year-old, because all they care about is: ‘What kind of style, and for others it’s getting a [telephone] call back the same a car can I get?’ They don’t realize that it has to last them for a day . . . It is equally important that the attorneys be skilled – you very long time.” have to look at that, as well. But sometimes, people look at the He adds that one also might want to provide for an elderly skill and not necessarily their own comfort level. And it really parent via a will, or give to a favorite charity, for example. is a team effort.” 2 O c t o b e r ,    