Ridgewood Estate Planning Blog

New Jersey residents dying without an estate plan subject their families to court-related delays and allow the state to determine who gets their assets. Most Americans know that having an estate plan is important, but less than half have actually undertaken the...

The practice of planning for the untimely debilitation of a loved one isn't always left for an advanced age. Regardless of how old New Jersey family members are, it's never too early to create an estate plan for their future medical and legal security. This is...

Many older Americans are in bad financial trouble. One and a half million senior citizens lost their homes during the recession and more than half a million are currently in foreclosure. All in all, three and a half million bad loans are held by people 50 and older....

New Jersey residents often assume they do not need estate planning documents because they do not have a large amount of assets or they are not old enough to concern themselves with it. However, there are basic estate planning documents that adults should have. Once...

Most pet owners think of their cat, dog, bird or other pet as a family member, not just a pet. Estate planning unfortunately usually does not include those beloved pets and therefore they are not provided for in the event of your death. The fact, according to a recent...

It is not uncommon for New Jersey residents to assume they do not need an estate planning because of what they believe to be an insufficient amount of property to worry about. However, estate planning is a way of ensuring that people's assets are distributed according...

Administering an estate in New Jersey begins with locating a will. The items that the will controls, or probate assets, and the person who will be in control of the distribution of these assets will be named in the will as the executor of the will. In some cases, the...

New Jersey residents may be aware that many of the tax benefits originally included as part of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act in 2001 were made permanent this spring through the enactment of the American Tax Relief Act of 2012. Although...

Changes to the tax law in 2012 are changing the way people should be planning their estates. There are many, however, who are not aware of the extent to which these changes require a new approach. The main effect of the 2012 law is that income taxes have become a...

New Jersey residents may be interested in knowing that estate planning is not always easy. Mistakes in the process can cause issues when it becomes time to distribute a person's assets. However, there are some steps that can be followed to help avoid those mistakes....