Estate Planning Resource Library

Your Guide to Estate Planning in New Jersey

Estate planning is how you keep decisions about your family and your assets in your own hands rather than leaving them to a default statute or a court. The library below is organized by topic so you can move quickly from a question to the page that answers it, whether that question is what a will actually does, when a trust earns its keep, or who speaks for you if you cannot speak for yourself. Each guide is written by our practicing attorneys and reviewed against current New Jersey law, so the starting point for your reading is the same starting point we would use in a consultation.

Why Choose the Simon Law Group for Estate Planning

Our attorneys work in New Jersey trust and estate law every week, for individuals and families at every stage of life, from young couples writing a first will to retirees coordinating trusts, property, and a multi-generational legacy. Britt J. Simon, who leads the estate planning practice, has personally overseen more than 1,500 plans for New Jersey families. We read the library the way you should: as the place to get oriented, not as a substitute for advice. A will-only plan is a real plan and the right plan for many people, but it is a starting point rather than the whole picture. For families with real estate, blended households, or a net worth above roughly $250,000, a trust is often the structure that actually does what the will alone cannot. Which documents you need is the conversation; the library is how you walk into it already knowing the vocabulary.

We maintain offices in Somerville, Morristown, and Flemington, making it convenient for residents across northern and central New Jersey to work with us in person or by video conference.

Start Where Your Question Is

The fastest way to use this library is to begin with the question that brought you here and follow it into one guide, then let that guide point you to the next. If you are not sure where to begin, two pages do double duty as on-ramps: the Estate Planning Overview explains how wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and advance directives fit together, and the Estate Planning Glossary defines the terms the rest of the library uses. When you would rather talk it through, the intake questionnaire takes about ten minutes, captures the details we would otherwise gather on a first call, and lets us arrive at the consultation already focused on the decisions that matter for your family. Reading well-chosen guides and then sitting down with an attorney is not redundant; it is what turns a general plan into the right plan for your circumstances.