Blog & Resources

If you die without a will in New Jersey you are said to die “intestate”. If you die intestate, your probate assets are divided up under the New Jersey Intestate Rules. These rules can easily be avoided by writing a will, but if you do not have a will, the Intestacy Rules are in place to clearly state who inherits your probate property in order to avoid conflict.

Your IRA is subject to the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax, which can prove to be a tax trap.

For example, if you leave $100,000 from your IRA to a friend, that gift is subject to the 15% Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax rate. To avoid interest and penalties on the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax, within 9 months of your death your friend must pay the Commonwealth $15,000. If your friend does not have $15,000 of liquid assets, she may have to remove the $15,000 from the IRA. If she does, this will trigger her to recognize $15,000 of income. If she does not have the liquid assets to pay the income taxes due on the $15,000, she may have to remove the money from the IRA, which triggers even more income taxes.

If you die without a will in New Jersey you are said to die “intestate”. If you die intestate, your probate assets are divided up under the New Jersey Intestate Rules. These rules can easily be avoided by writing a will, but if you do not have a will, the Intestacy Rules are in place to clearly state who inherits your probate property in order to avoid conflict.

If you die without a will in Pennsylvania you are said to die “intestate”. If you die intestate, your probate assets are divided up under the Pennsylvania Intestate Rules. These rules can easily be avoided by writing a will, but if you do not have a will, the Intestacy Rules are in place to clearly state who inherits your probate property in order to avoid conflict.

New Jersey allows you to form a Revocable Living Trust. These trusts can own almost any asset including bank accounts, autos, stocks, gold, and your Atlantic County real estate. While Revocable Trusts can serve many purposes, the primary goal is to avoid probating the will with the Atlantic County Surrogate.

If you die without a will in Pennsylvania you are said to die “intestate”. If you die intestate, your probate assets are divided up under the Pennsylvania Intestate Rules. These rules can easily be avoided by writing a will, but if you do not have a will, the Intestacy Rules are in place to clearly state who inherits your probate property in order to avoid conflict.

If you are a Lehigh County resident with a will, following your death your executor will take your death certificate, the original copy of your will, a checkbook and an ID card to the Lehigh County Register of Wills Office to be sworn in as the executor of your estate.

Being an executor means that this person is a fiduciary with many responsibilities and duties. Selecting the correct person for the job is a vital part of your estate plan.

If you are a Chester County resident with a will, following your death your executor will take your death certificate, the original copy of your will, a checkbook and an ID card to the Chester County Register of Wills Office to be sworn in as the executor of your estate.

Being an executor means that this person is a fiduciary with many responsibilities and duties. Selecting the correct person for the job is a vital part of your estate plan.

If you are a Delaware County resident with a will, following your death your executor will take your death certificate, the original copy of your will, a checkbook and an ID card to the Delaware County Register of Wills Office to be sworn in as the executor of your estate.

Being an executor means that this person is a fiduciary with many responsibilities and duties. Selecting the correct person for the job is a vital part of your estate plan.

After months of picking out wedding cakes, perusing gowns and shopping for flowers, discussing estate planning can feel, to many people, like a doom and gloom conversation. However, having an estate plan to protect and care for your new spouse can not only strengthen your financial situation, it can also help your marriage.

As time passes, starting an estate plan will only become more complicated; children and grandchildren are born, assets change and family dynamics shift. Getting an early start on an estate plan for your new family will lay the groundwork for your future and can be tweaked as your family changes and grows.