Blog & Resources

Most states require that at the time you sign your will you have two witnesses who sign under your name. These are known as “Subscribing Witnesses”. Pennsylvania is an exception to this common practice. In Pennsylvania, you need no Subscribing Witness when you sign your will.

Simply put, a will is a writing that specifies the beneficiaries who are to inherit the testator’s assets, names a representative to administer the estate and who is responsible for distributing the assets to the beneficiaries. To be valid a testator you must have legal capacity when the will is written and follow state law.

Every journey starts with the first step, and your estate planning begins with assembling information and answering questions. Your estate plan’s complexity will depend on many factors, including your family and its unique set of circumstances, the type and value of your assets, your overall financial plan and your ideas on how you would like to divide what remains of your estate at your death.

If you are a resident of Gloucester County, New Jersey, and have executed a valid New Jersey will, that will dictates the distribution of the property you owned at your death. The will is not limited to your property within Gloucester County, and will determine who receives your property no matter where it is located throughout the world.

The short answer is everyone. The plan might be simple or complex, but without a plan you might not address avoidable family conflicts and tax problems.

Estate planning is the process of developing a plan for the transfer of your property at your death. An estate plan can be simple or complex. The need for simplicity or a more complex plan will depend on your own assets, your family dynamics, the possible problems faced by your heirs, tax issues and legal limitations.

While it is not a requirement, naming alternative beneficiaries in your will and in your beneficiary designation forms is a good idea.

If you have life insurance, you likely have determined that if you die there is a financial need that must be addressed by your absence. Because of this determination, you pay a small amount each year in premium to the life insurance company for the guarantee that if you die a larger sum of money will be delivered to the named beneficiary.

Decades ago, when I started my practice as an estate-planning attorney, there were rumblings about how modern medicine was changing the way people died. For most of human existence death came quickly from an illness or injury about which physicians could do nothing. Now, advances in medical knowledge allow us to battle death, giving us more time with our loved ones. But this same gift often makes the dying process a long, slow struggle against an incurable disease or untreatable injury. Sometimes, after a long struggle with illness and with full knowledge that death is certain and the future holds nothing but suffering, a person will decide to voluntarily stop eating and drinking (“VSED”), which hastens the inevitable end.

Every modern medical advance to make our lives better brings with it new challenges and problems we must address.

If you are an art collector interested in giving a piece of art to a charity, what factors should you consider in order to maximize your income tax deduction?

Short Answer: If a person as a collector contributes highly appreciated art purchased and held over one year to a qualified public charity and reports the contribution along with a supporting appraisal (if the art exceeds $5,000.00 in value) the person will avoid recognizing the built in capital gains, avoid paying inheritance and estate taxes and the person will be able to deduct the full fair market value of the donation as of the date of the contribution.

Long Answer: The Tax Code encourages the contribution of art to tax exempt organizations by allowing deductions against income for the gift. The size of the deduction will depend on several factors.