As most of you know, I generally try to avoid political discussions and I really try to avoid commenting on proposed tax policy before it becomes law for the simple reason that most proposed law changes never get enacted. However, I feel compelled to talk about what I believe is a major flaw in the […]
As many of you know, New Jersey recently revised its estate tax law. Effective January 1, 2017, people who die in the year 2017 will have a New Jersey estate tax exemption of $2,000,000. Since the law was enacted towards the end of 2016, the division of tax needs some time to prepare a […]
One of the first questions we are asked is “do I have to do anything about Social Security”? Here are some important things to know if a decedent was receiving SSA benefits at the time of passing: Reporting Normally the funeral director will contact Social Security to report a person’s death if you give them […]
From time to time, people ask me about trustee and executor commissions in New Jersey. Because it is a bit complex, I have broken it down into two posts and I will focus on administrator and executor commissions today. To start, a Will can specifically provide for an executor’s commission. In that absence of expressly authorizing a […]
WHAT ARE SPECIFIC GIFTS AND GENERAL GIFTS? A specific bequest is a gift of a specific piece of property to a specific person. Three examples of this are: I give my real estate, located at 1 Main Street, Anytown, State, to my son, Jake Smith. I give my 500 shares of stock of XYZ Corporation […]