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Department Chairperson
Christine O’Donnell, Esq.
Christine@sambrownlaw.com |
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| Proper estate planning can assure that financial and gifting problems after your death do not compound your family’s grief. Our attorneys provide invaluable insight into state law regarding wills, trusts, the probate process and non-probate transfers. Additionally, our attorneys have an in-depth knowledge of the federal gift, federal and New Jersey estate and transfer tax issues. Allow us to use our knowledge and expertise to assist you with making these important life decisions. |
- Estate Planning
- Wills
- Trusts
- Trusteeships
- Tax Planning
- Probate and Estate Administration
- Will Contests
- Health Care Proxies, Power of Attorney, and Advanced Directive (Living Will)
- Guardianship Proceedings
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| Estate Planning |
| Our attorneys counsel clients on techniques to transfer assets to their loved ones in an efficient and orderly manner. Our attorneys meet personally with clients to review their personal and financial information as well as their goals and objectives for their family members. In addition to learning about our clients and their goals, we educate our clients about issues affecting wealth transfer such as: wills and trusts; probate and trust administration, alternatives to estate administration; estate, and tax issues. We believe that an informed client will make the best possible decisions for his or her family. |
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| Wills |
| With a Will, you can decide who will care for your children and how your property will be distributed thus avoiding possible disputes among your family members after your death. Here your wishes are memorialized so that the Personal Representative you choose will know how to distribute your assets. Furthermore, through insightful tax advice, we can help you to pre-plan to avoid or limit the various state and federal taxes that are implicated at your death. |
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| Trusts |
| Trusts are useful tools to supplement a will. There are various reasons why it may be beneficial to you and your heirs to incorporate a trust into your estate plan. After a review of your financial information and assets and a discussion of your goals, our attorneys can discuss various options that will best accomplish these objectives for you. |
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| Trusteeships |
| Our attornies have acted in numerous capacities as trustee in relation to the State Administration including insurance trusts in other such estate planning tools. |
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| Tax Planning |
As they say, there are two things you can count on in life – death and taxes. Even after death, there are still taxes to be paid. But, proper estate planning can reduce the amount of taxes that either your estate or your heirs will have to pay. Our attorneys can analyze your finances and assets and can advise you on taxes that are implicated at your death without any planning and what difference careful planning can make for your estate and heirs after your death. |
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| Probate and Estate Administration |
Our attorneys handle all aspects of Probate and Estate Administration for estates. Estate Administration includes the probate process of paying debts and distributing assets, as well as, non-probate transfers of the deceased's assets, such as life insurance, annuities, qualified plans, and trust assets and compliance with applicable estate tax requirements. We can assist the personal representative of the estate in the gathering, valuing, accounting and distributing the decedent's assets. We can also assist with preparing federal and state estate tax returns as well as the appropriate documents in order to release liens on a decedent's real estate. We can help you to make sure that the decedent's intent is carried out in accordance with the law. |
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| Will Contests |
We have litigated a wide variety of matters in the trust and estate area including trust and will contests. Allow our attorneys to use their experience and knowledge in these areas to your advantage. But you should know that these are issues that are typically addressed at the estate planning state. Careful drafting can ensure that your estate is distributed in the terms you set forth without any challenges. |
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| Health Care Proxies, Power of Attorney, and Advanced Directive (Living Will) |
| We can assist you with the preparation of a living will or advanced health care directive, in order to designate a health care proxy to ensure that when the time comes, your wishes are memorialized so that loved ones will not need to make these difficult decisions without your guidance. |
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| Guardianship Proceedings |
When a person cannot properly manage property or take care of himself, someone must assume responsibility for that person's affairs. If no one has legal authority to act under a Power of Attorney and/or Living Will or Advanced Directive, a court appointed guardian is required. We have assisted families with the appointment process and carrying out their duties as guardian. |
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