Wills, Trusts & Estates Insights — Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Firm News & Events

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.

Trump Accounts: Many-Legged Beasts

Published on: May 18, 2026 | by Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

When Congress passed, and President Trump signed, the budget reconciliation bill H.R. 1 (commonly referred to as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”), they established a new investment vehicle: Trump Accounts. Though frequently thought about only in connection with their most widely-publicized component – a $1,000 pilot contribution by the federal government – Trump Accounts are many-legged beasts. To take advantage of the “free money” pilot contribution from the government and the jump start it can provide to a child’s savings, it is crucial to become familiar with Trump Accounts’ many legs and pitfalls.

First Leg: Establishing the Account

Section 530A of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) allows an authorized individual – a parent, legal guardian, adult sibling, or grandparent – to file IRS Form 4547. The Form serves as an election to establish a Trump Account for a qualified individual. In order to qualify, the individual must not have attained age 18 by the end of the calendar year in which the election is made and must have a Social Security number issued before the date of the election.

Reviewing and Maintaining Estate Planning Documents: An Update

Published on: May 18, 2026 | by Anne Marie Robbins

Clients often wonder how frequently their estate planning documents should be reviewed. Is there a set period of time we recommend to review and perhaps update wills and other estate planning documents? As we have advised in the past, the answer depends more upon needs and life stages rather than the passage of time.

The first consideration should be whether there is a need to change a document. For example, after a move to a new state, the estate planning documents should be reviewed by an attorney licensed to practice in that state. Further, if the executor named in a will has died, moved out of state, or is no longer the appropriate person to serve, the will should be updated to substitute another executor for the one who will no longer serve. Similarly, if a guardian for a minor child is no longer appropriate because he or she has relocated to another state, or because the guardian’s personal circumstances have changed, it may be necessary to revise the will to name a new guardian. A change in the tax laws may also suggest a need for revision of a will or trust, as would a significant change in financial circumstances.

New life stages may also provide reasons to update estate planning documents. For example, when children are minors, it is often appropriate to establish a trust to hold a child’s inheritance until a child reaches a specific age in order to safeguard the funds and minimize potential waste. As a child grows up, the need for a trust may be eliminated, or the terms of a trust might warrant a change to give a child different benefits or more control. Similarly, when a child becomes an adult, it may be appropriate to name the child to a position of responsibility, as perhaps appointing the child as an executor.

When “Equal” Isn’t Fair – and When It Becomes a Lawsuit: Estate-Planning Red Flags for Business Owners

Published on: March 9, 2026 | by Elizabeth Candido Petite

Business owners spend years building something tangible: crews, equipment fleets, supplier relationships, customer goodwill, and a reputation that can’t be bought overnight. Yet when an owner becomes incapacitated or dies, the most expensive flight is often not with a competitor, it’s inside the family.

Trust and estate litigators see the same pattern repeatedly: the owner’s plan technically exists, but it contains “red flags” that practically invite a courtroom brawl. When those red flags aren’t addressed during life, they’re often resolved in a courtroom where the process is lengthy, emotional, and expensive.

For owners whose business is hands-on, asset-heavy, seasonal, and often family-involved, the risk is amplified. Below are the most common litigation triggers I have seen in my practice, along with planning moves that can keep your family, your crews, and your company out of chaos.

Estate Planning After Divorce: Revisit Your Beneficiary Designations or Your Estate Could Pay the Consequences

Published on: February 19, 2026 | by Elizabeth Engert Manzo and Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

Many people direct the disposition of their bank accounts, investments, retirement accounts and life insurance upon their death by designating beneficiaries of those assets. When an asset passes by beneficiary designation, otherwise called a pay-on-death provision, it becomes a non-probate asset and therefore passes outside of a person’s probate estate.

In New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, among other states, a divorce automatically revokes any provisions in a will which benefit a former spouse, unless the will expressly states otherwise. Similarly, New Jersey statute 3B:3-14 provides that a divorce revokes any revocable appointment directing the disposition of property – such as a beneficiary designation – to a former spouse unless the governing instrument, court order, or divorce agreement dividing marital assets expressly states otherwise.

This year, the New Jersey Supreme Court considered whether a decedent’s pay-on-death provision on his U.S. savings bonds survived his divorce and satisfied the terms of his divorce settlement agreement (“DSA”). The decedent, Michael Jones (“Michael”), bought Series EE U.S. savings bonds while married to Jeanine Jones (“Jeanine”) and named her as the pay-on-death beneficiary of the bonds. When Michael and Jeanine divorced in 2018, the DSA required Michael to pay Jeanine $200,000 over time and also stated that any marital asset not specifically listed in the DSA “belong[ed] to the party who ha[d] it currently in their possession.” The DSA did not explicitly mention the savings bonds.

Timely Mailing May Not Be Timely Filing – Change to U.S. Postal Service Rules

Published on: February 19, 2026 | by Anne Marie Robbins

On November 24, 2025, the U.S. Postal Service (“USPS”) finalized a rule regarding when and how postmarks are applied. See 39 C.F.R. § 111 (2025). It is important for taxpayers and their advisors to be aware of the change because it has an impact on proving that a document was filed. While the rule does not change how mail is processed, it does change how postmarks should be understood, especially when deadlines matter.

What Changed?

While postmarks have long been relied upon as evidence that a document was mailed on a certain date, the new rule makes clear that this assumption is not always accurate. In most cases, postmarks are applied by automated machines at regional processing facilities, and not at the local post office where a piece of mail is dropped off. As a result, the date printed on a postmark may reflect the date the piece was first processed—not the date it was actually placed in the mail or collected by the USPS.

Federal Transfer Tax Exemptions for 2026

Published on: February 11, 2026 | by Anne Marie Robbins

As a result of the 2025 tax legislation passed in July of last year, there has been a significant increase in the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions to $15 million effective January 1.

The increase means that in 2026, an individual may make gifts during life or at death totaling $15 million without incurring gift or estate tax, and a married couple will be able to transfer $30 million of assets free of transfer taxes.

The annual gift tax exclusion provided by Code section 2503 remains at $19,000 per donee (or $38,000 if spouses elect gift-splitting).

A Greener Garden State: Human Composting Legalized

Published on: October 10, 2025 | by Elizabeth Engert Manzo

On September 12th, 2025, Governor Murphy legalized “natural organic reduction” making New Jersey the 14th state to permit the composting of human bodies as an alternative to traditional burial or cremation. While the Board of Mortuary Science has yet to issue regulations which will govern the process, funeral businesses are expected to become licensed and start offering this service, also known as “controlled supervised decomposition,” by July 2026.

Advocates state that human composting is environmentally friendly because it does not use toxic embalming chemicals, uses less energy, and releases less carbon into the atmosphere than cremation. It also requires less land and leaves less of a carbon footprint than traditional burial.

Human composting uses a closed reusable vessel, along with other organic materials, to encourage natural decomposition over a 30 to 45 day process. Approximately 1 cubic meter of nutrient rich soil is created to support the ecosystem. Safety protocols, consumer protections, as well as how and where the transformed soil can be utilized will be clarified in the regulations.

How H.R. 1 Reshapes Estate Planning for Individuals, Families, and Business Owners Alike

Published on: July 30, 2025 | by Elizabeth Candido Petite

The recent enactment of H.R. 1, commonly known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” or the “Act,” which has been signed into law, includes a critical provision that permanently and significantly increases the federal estate and gift tax exemption amounts. This will have a profound impact on wealth transfer strategies and may require the review and updating of existing estate plans.

For years, families and their advisors have navigated the complexities of fluctuating tax laws, often planning around temporary provisions and sunset clauses. This new law provides a welcome measure of certainty and offers opportunities for high-net-worth families and owners of closely held businesses to refine their legacy plans.

The Game-Changer: A Permanent Increase in Exemption

Estate Planning for Business Owners: Avoiding Family Disputes

Published on: July 8, 2025 | by Elizabeth Candido Petite

When the founder of a family-owned business passes away, the impact can be both financial and personal. Even successful companies can face significant conflict if there isn’t a clear plan for how ownership and control will transfer to the next generation. This risk is particularly high when some children are actively involved in the business while others are not.

For example, one child might be managing job sites, handling bonding, or overseeing client relationships, while their siblings may have different responsibilities at the company or no involvement in the business. If the owner dies and leaves the business equally to all children, disagreements about leadership, control, pay, and profit distribution can quickly harm both the business and family relationships.

Fortunately, with proper planning, these conflicts can be avoided.