Insights Archives — Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Firm News & Events

Gifts to Minor Beneficiaries

Published on: October 21, 2026 | by Anne Marie Robbins

Clients often wonder how best to transfer assets to minor family members. The current large federal estate and gift tax exemption ($15 million per person in 2026, or $30 million for a married couple) has curtailed the need to reduce one’s taxable estate by giving assets away, but many still wish to make lifetime gifts to set aside assets for young family members.

Several strategies are available, and each serves a different purpose. The appropriate choice depends on how the donor wants the money used, how long the donor wants it protected, and how much control the donor is willing to surrender.

UTMA Accounts: Simple, Flexible and Irrevocable

Probate Assets, Non-Probate Assets, Death Taxes and Your Estate: What New Jersey Families Need to Know

Published on: October 21, 2026 | by Mark J. Scancarella

When people think about what happens to their property after death, they often picture a family gathered around a conference table in a lawyer’s office for the “reading” of the Last Will and Testament. The reality is quite different. Understanding how assets pass to beneficiaries, and the tax consequences of each method, can save your family time, money, and stress, and help ensure your wishes are carried out as intended.

Assets That Pass Through Probate

Probate is the court-supervised process of settling an estate, handled in New Jersey by the Surrogate’s Court of the county where the decedent lived. It covers assets held in your name alone, such as individual bank or brokerage accounts, a car, a home titled only to you, and personal belongings. These pass under your Will or, if you have none, under New Jersey’s intestacy laws. Probate is also public, so your Will becomes part of the public record.

Keep It or Gift It? Rethinking Lifetime Gifts of Equipment, Yards, and Real Estate

Published on: October 16, 2026 | by Elizabeth Candido Petite

For decades, the standard advice to business owners with significant assets was to “get it out of your estate.” Give shares of the company, the equipment yard, or the rental property to your children during your lifetime, and you shrink the estate the IRS can tax at your death. When the federal estate tax exemption was $1 million or $2 million, that advice made a great deal of sense.

That world has changed. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” or OBBBA, permanently increased the federal estate and gift tax exemption to $15 million per person, indexed for inflation, or roughly $30 million for a married couple when both spouses’ exemptions are preserved. New Jersey no longer has an estate tax, and its inheritance tax does not apply to transfers to a spouse, children, stepchildren, grandchildren, or parents. The result is that most contracting families will never owe estate tax at all.

When estate tax is off the table, the question changes. It is no longer, “How do I get assets out of my estate?” but rather, “What will my children pay in income tax when they eventually sell what I leave them?” For owners of land improvement businesses, whose balance sheets are often loaded with depreciated equipment and land bought decades ago, the answer could be hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars.

What Is Your Healthcare Business Really Worth? Understanding EBITDA, Valuation and Deal Economics

Published on: September 24, 2026 | by Stephen A. Timoni

For an owner considering the sale of a healthcare business, one of the first questions is usually: What is my business worth?

It is an important question, but determining value involves much more than applying a multiple to last year’s earnings. Two healthcare businesses with similar revenue and profits can receive very different offers. The difference may reflect the quality and predictability of their earnings, growth prospects, customer or referral concentration, management depth, regulatory risk, or how dependent the business remains on its owner.

When a prospective buyer makes an offer, the discussion often begins with EBITDA and a valuation multiple. A business owner may be told that the company is worth seven or eight times EBITDA. That sounds straightforward. But before deciding whether an offer is attractive, the seller needs to understand two things: what EBITDA figure the buyer is using and what the proposed purchase price will ultimately mean in dollars received and obligations retained.

Private Caregiver vs. Health Care Service Firm in New Jersey

Published on: September 15, 2026 | by Stephen A. Timoni

Hiring a Private Caregiver in New Jersey: Understanding the Legal, Financial and Safety Risks

As more individuals choose to remain in their homes as they age, families are increasingly faced with an important decision: hire a private caregiver directly or obtain personal care services through a registered New Jersey Health Care Service Firm.

The difference involves much more than cost.

The First Call with Private Equity: How a Business Owner Should Prepare

Published on: August 24, 2026 | by Stephen A. Timoni

For a business owner who has never dealt with private equity, the first call with a PE firm can feel more significant than it usually is. In most cases, it is not a negotiation and it is certainly not a due diligence exercise. The first call is typically an exploratory conversation, generally lasting 30 minutes to an hour and usually conducted virtually. That does not mean it is unimportant. The first call often determines whether there will be a second one.

During the first call the PE firm is trying to decide whether your company fits its investment strategy and whether the owner is someone it wants to spend more time with. The owner should approach the conversation in much the same way. This is an opportunity to learn who is on the other side of the table and whether further discussions make sense.

Understand the Purpose of the Call

Back-To-School Co-Parenting: Practical Guidance for Separated and Divorced Parents in New Jersey

Published on: August 11, 2026 | by Nicole A. Kobis

The start of a new school year can bring to light new issues in even the most workable and amicable co-parenting arrangement. Starting in late summer through early fall, families must manage school forms, schedule changes, teacher communications, homework, new activity schedules, transportation, and special events, often with little notice as back to school items fill parental calendars. For separated parents, those ordinary demands can become a source of conflict when expectations are unclear or information does not reach both homes.

The most effective approach is a reliable process for exchanging information, making decisions, and following through keeping in mind that each member of your family is adjusting through the transition out of summer and into the brand new school year.

Children benefit when they know who will pick them up, where their school materials will be, and how each parent will respond to school obligations. Parents also reduce their own stress when they address predictable issues before they become urgent which will help the entire family readjust from summer routines to school year schedules.

New Jersey DOL Clarifies Employer Obligations Under the Expanded New Jersey Family Leave Act Effective July 17, 2026

Published on: July 31, 2026 | by Lisa Gingeleskie and Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

In January 2026, New Jersey enacted significant amendments to the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA), expanding coverage to smaller businesses, reducing the waiting periods for eligible employees to qualify for leave, and creating new job restoration rights. Of the expansion, the job reinstatement piece created significant confusion particularly with respect to employees who are collecting Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) and Family Leave Insurance (FLI) benefits and their rights to job restoration, if any, when ineligible for NJFLA or Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) unpaid leave. The NJDOL announcement specifically addresses this issue.

Just two days before the effective date, however, the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development issued an announcement to address this confusion. Specifically, the July 15, 2026 announcement clarified that employers must provide eligible employees with up to 26 weeks of job protection while employees are collecting TDI benefits and up to 12 weeks of job protection while collecting FLI benefits. This clarification has created significant concern among business owners, particularly small business owners, who must now provide job-protected leave to those employees that are not yet eligible for NJFLA or FMLA unpaid leave, including newly hired employees.

Reduction of Eligibility Requirements Under the NJFLA

Navigating the Purchase or Sale of an Eye Care Practice

Published on: July 14, 2026 | by Stephen A. Timoni

The eye care sector has become one of the most active areas in healthcare M&A, driven by an aging demographic, the rise of the medical optometry, and significant private equity interest. For practice owners and buyers alike, this presents substantial opportunity, along with complex legal pitfalls that can derail a transaction.

Buying or selling an optometry or ophthalmology practice is fundamentally different from purchasing a typical small business. These transactions sit at the intersection of corporate law, healthcare regulation, and professional licensure rules. A deal that looks clean on the financials can collapse during diligence when regulatory or structural issues surface.

The Corporate Practice Doctrine

Can You Withhold Parenting Time If Child Support Is Not Paid in New Jersey?

Published on: July 13, 2026 | by James McGlew, II

One of the most common misconceptions in family law is the belief that a parent may deny visitation or parenting time when child support has not been paid. The reverse misconception is also common: some parents believe they may stop paying child support if they are denied parenting time. Under New Jersey law, both assumptions are incorrect.

Child support and parenting time are treated as separate legal obligations. A parent’s failure to comply with one obligation does not automatically excuse the other parent from complying with the other. While this principle can feel frustrating to parents involved in these disputes, New Jersey courts intentionally separate these issues because both are considered important to the child’s well-being.

This is a Common Misunderstanding