New Jersey Estate Planning Services Catalog

Wills And Testamentary Documents

Last Will and Testament. A New Jersey will directs probate assets, names an executor, can nominate guardians for minor children, and can create testamentary trusts. New Jersey execution requirements are found in N.J.S.A. Title 3B (the New Jersey Uniform Trust Code and related statutes), including the provisions governing signing, witness attestation, and self-proving affidavits. We generally include self-proving language so the Surrogate can evaluate the will without needing witnesses to appear later.

Pour-over will. A pour-over will works with a revocable trust by directing residual probate assets into the trust after death. It is a backstop, not a substitute for trust funding during life.

Tangible personal property memorandum. This can help identify who should receive furniture, jewelry, collections, family items, and other personal effects when New Jersey law and the will permit that method. The memorandum should be updated carefully and stored with the estate-planning records.

Guardian nominations. Parents may nominate a guardian for minor children in a will. A court still evaluates the child's best interests. Strong plans name alternates, separate caretaker and money-management roles where appropriate, and explain sensitive choices without adding unnecessary conflict.

Revocable Trust Planning

A revocable living trust is a lifetime trust that can hold assets for management during incapacity and distribution after death. It may reduce the need for Surrogate probate for assets actually titled in the trust. It does not control assets left outside the trust, does not eliminate all administration work, and does not by itself change New Jersey inheritance-tax treatment.

Revocable-trust work may include:

• Trust agreement drafting or restatement.
• Pour-over will coordination.
• Real estate deed review and trust funding.
• Account-retitling instructions.
• Successor trustee guidance.
• Beneficiary-designation review where retirement or insurance assets interact with the trust.

The practical value depends on funding and administration. A signed trust with no assets may create confusion rather than solve it.

Irrevocable Trusts

Irrevocable trusts trade flexibility for a defined objective. We discuss them only when the client has a reason to accept reduced control, separate trustee administration, tax reporting, and ongoing compliance duties.

Common structures include:

• Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs) for life insurance ownership, beneficiary control, and possible federal estate-tax planning under I.R.C. Section 2042.
• Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs) for married clients considering completed gifts while allowing a beneficiary spouse to be a permissible distributee.
• Grantor trusts, GRATs, and IDGTs for clients with federal transfer-tax planning needs, valuation questions, and CPA coordination.
• Charitable trusts such as charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts where charitable intent, income-tax treatment, cash flow, and administration costs justify the structure.
• Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts for long-term care planning, subject to federal and New Jersey Medicaid eligibility rules, transfer review, estate-recovery issues, and loss of direct control.
• Special Needs Trusts for beneficiaries who receive or may later need means-tested benefits.
• Pet trusts, gun trusts, and family-property trusts where a specific asset requires governance beyond a general residuary clause.

None of these structures should be described as built-in creditor protection, tax reduction, or assured eligibility planning. Each requires fact-specific analysis and ongoing administration.

Powers Of Attorney

A durable power of attorney authorizes an agent to handle financial matters during life. It may cover banking, tax filings, real estate, insurance, retirement accounts, business interests, trust transactions, and digital assets depending on the text.

We draft powers of attorney to match the client's actual institutions and risks. A document that is too narrow may fail when the agent needs to act. A document that is too broad may create oversight concerns. For sensitive powers such as gifting, beneficiary changes, trust amendments, or real estate transfers, the document should be explicit and the client should understand the tradeoff.

Advance Directives And Health Documents

An advance directive can name a health care representative and state treatment preferences if the client lacks decision-making capacity. New Jersey Department of Health materials distinguish instruction directives, proxy directives, and combined directives. We often pair the directive with a separate HIPAA authorization so the named representative can receive and share medical information with providers, insurers, and family members as the client directs.

Health documents are especially important when family members disagree, when the client is unmarried, when children live out of state, or when a trusted non-relative should have authority. The document should name alternates and avoid vague instructions that cannot be applied in a hospital setting.

Probate And Estate Administration

After death, we assist executors, administrators, trustees, and beneficiaries with New Jersey probate and estate administration. Work may include:

• Preparing Surrogate filings for probate or administration.
• Obtaining Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
• Advising fiduciaries on notices, asset collection, creditor issues, and distributions.
• Coordinating New Jersey inheritance-tax returns or waivers when required.
• Coordinating federal estate tax Form 706, fiduciary income tax Form 1041, and gift tax Form 709 with tax professionals.
• Preparing informal accountings, releases, refunding bonds, or formal accounting materials where appropriate.
• Addressing disputes over capacity, undue influence, fiduciary conduct, beneficiary rights, or accountings.

Administration timelines vary. Real estate sales, tax filings, missing records, creditor issues, out-of-state assets, beneficiary disputes, and contested court matters can all affect pace.

Beneficiary Designation And Asset-Titling Review

Estate planning is incomplete if account ownership and beneficiary records are ignored. Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, payable-on-death accounts, transfer-on-death accounts, joint accounts, and business agreements can override or bypass will provisions.

Our review may identify mismatches such as an ex-spouse still listed on a policy, a minor child named directly, a trust named without retirement-account analysis, or a jointly held account that conflicts with the client's intended equal distribution. Correcting those issues often requires coordination with custodians, carriers, financial advisors, and CPAs.

Tax Coordination

Tax coordination is not the same as assumed tax reduction. We help clients identify when New Jersey inheritance tax, federal estate tax, federal gift tax, generation-skipping transfer tax, fiduciary income tax, realty transfer fees, or income-tax basis issues may matter. New Jersey repealed its separate estate tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2018, but New Jersey inheritance tax remains for transfers to non-Class-A beneficiaries, and the federal estate tax applies where the estate exceeds the basic exclusion amount. The 2026 federal basic exclusion amount is $15 million per person under current IRS guidance, but planning should account for potential future law changes, asset growth, and prior lifetime gifts.

Where the issue is primarily tax reporting or valuation, we coordinate with the client's CPA, appraiser, or financial advisor. Legal documents should support, not contradict, the tax position being taken.

Related Practice Areas

• Estate Planning
• Estate Planning Services Hub
• Revocable Living Trusts
• Irrevocable Trusts
• Powers of Attorney
• Advance Directives
• Probate Administration

Submitting a form or contacting Simon Law Group does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Responsible Attorney: Britt J. Simon, Esq., Managing Partner, Simon Law Group, LLC.

How We Help Turn the Services Catalog Into the Right Scope

We start with the client's objectives, family, assets, authority needs, tax concerns, chosen fiduciaries, and implementation work, then select only the instruments that earn a place. The engagement is bespoke, not a preassembled document-package template.

Request a scope recommendation from the estate-planning catalog.