The Best Place To Die (From An Estate And Inheritance Tax Perspective)
Best place to die Several years ago, I wrote a few articles comparing the tax consequences of dying in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida. Now that New Jersey has amended its estate tax laws, I thought I should write another post for 2017 regarding the best place to die. I will write this […]
New Jersey Estate Tax Deal
According to various news reports, it appears that New Jersey will officially be eliminating the estate tax. The deal to eliminate the estate tax is part of a larger deal that increases the gas tax, reduces the sales tax slightly, gives the working poor a larger tax credit, gives a tax cut on retirement income […]
Income Taxation of Trusts – Determining Which State Can Tax the Trust
Determining the situs of a trust (i.e. the residence of a trust) is not always an easy matter. Each state has its own rules regarding whether a trust is a “Resident Trust”. These rules are oftentimes different from the tax rules. In some states these rules have been challenged in Court as unconstitutional, where the […]
Is NJ finally going to repeal the Estate Tax and the Inheritance Tax?
I tend not to get too excited about any legislation until it is actually signed, but there is a fair amount of rumbling from both Republicans and Democrats about repealing the NJ Estate Tax. The NJ Transportation Trust fund is running out of money, and Governor Christie has refused to sign any deal to increase […]
Estate Planning and Divorce in New Jersey
Men and women who are contemplating a separation or divorce have unique needs. Some divorces are very friendly and you can still count on your soon-to-be ex, but in most other situations, you may find that you rethink many aspects of your life, including where you wish your assets to go should something happen and […]
Reasons to Value a Trust
Recently I gave a lecture on the valuation of trusts. While I am not an accountant nor am I a valuation expert, I live and breathe trusts… and frequently the question comes up, what is value of a particular beneficiary’s interest in a trust. Keep in mind, just because a trust is worth $1M, it […]
New Jersey Enacts Uniform Trust Code into Law
While this may not sound like big news, it is actually very exciting that New Jersey has finally enacted the Uniform Trust Code (UTC) into law. The new law will go into effect on July 17, 2016. When it does, New Jersey will join Pennsylvania, Florida and a majority of other states in adopting most […]
Update to Executor’s Commissions in NJ
Back in March of 2014, I wrote a lengthy post about how to Calculate an Executor’s Commissions in New Jersey. Frankly, most of the executors I work with don’t want a commission. However, I recently came across an interesting situation where an executor wanted a commission and the decedent had substantial joint survivorship accounts with […]
Calculating Trustee Commissions in NJ
From time to time, people ask me how executor’s commissions and trustee’s commissions should be calculated. I have already written a post on calculating executor and administrator commissions, so this post will focus on Trustee commissions. New Jersey statutes on trustee commissions are very difficult to interpret because they use the term fiduciary to apply […]