GREATER NEW JERSEY ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL

Trusts, Estate Planning, and Divorce:

How and Why to Consider Divorce in Estate Planning

** This event will be online/virtual only. Times shown are Eastern. **

Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Time: 9:00 am - 11:00 am ET

Location: Online (Zoom webinar)

Since this is an online event only, please complete TWO registrations (Eventbrite and Zoom; see below).

Trusts, Estate Planning, and Divorce…not a very sexy title, but one that opens the door to a vast array of topics, issues, concerns, and potential problems. While estate planning – and everything that goes along with that – in and of itself is a very vast, broad, and comprehensive topic, coupling that with the fact that approximately 50% of all marriages end in divorce, says something very thought-provoking about the work we do for our clients. If some percentage of our clients end up getting divorced, our work, our planning, and these client’s lives will be impacted, and perhaps in very substantial ways.

What do we have to know? What do we have to do? Before, during, and after. When clients come to us initially to do their estate planning, do we as professionals have to consider divorce as a possible outcome? During the course of our planning, we think about first death, second death, lifetime transfers, transfers at death, basis, and so much more. Do we need to think about divorce? We use trusts, we strategically title assets, we establish entities, advise on all assets, and a closely-held, family business if applicable. However, what about divorce? Does it enter our minds? How does it enter into and what does it do to our work, our planning, and our client’s lives?

Elective share? Trusts? SLAT’s, QTIP’s, and spousal rights to income? Principal? Retirement plan assets, beneficiary designations and QDRO’s? Jointly held/titled assets? Family home? Vacation home? Closely-held business interests? Life insurance? And more! While your estate planning process may not contemplate divorce, perhaps it should? Floating spouse provisions? If your planning doesn’t contemplate divorce, it certainly may impact any and all planning you have done for your client.

In today’s day and age, any professional needs to have an understanding of how divorce impacts your work. This is going to be a “DON’T MISS” event with two of the best in their respective fields – Steven K. Mignogna, Esq.; Partner/Co-Chair, Archer (& Greiner PC), Private Wealth, Estates & Trusts Group; Chair, Estate and Trust Litigation Group, and Brian C. Martel, Esq.; (Co-Founding) Partner/Co-Chair, Torchin Martel Orr LLC (TMO Law), Paramus, NJ

Do not miss this great event! You will hear from two of the best about various cases, recent developments, and why and how to consider divorce as part of your planning.

Steven K. Mignogna, Esq. is a partner with Archer & Greiner and serves as both the Co-Chair of the firm’s Estates and Trusts Group and Chair of the Estate and Trust Litigation Group. Steve specializes in commercial litigation, including litigation involving probate matters, estates, trusts, gifts, fiduciaries, guardianships, and real estate, handling cases in the state and federal courts, at both the trial and appellate levels. Representing both institutions and individuals, Steve’s clients include banks, corporate fiduciaries, investment companies, educational and charitable institutions, and real estate firms, as well as beneficiaries of estates and trusts, executors, trustees, guardians, incapacitated persons, surviving spouses, and persons having an interest in real estate.              

Steve serves on the Advisory Committee of the Heckerling Institute. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and holds several leadership roles in ACTEC, including:  State Chair for New Jersey; Chair of ACTEC’s Fiduciary Litigation Committee; and the ACTEC Board of Regents. He is active in ACTEC in several other areas, including the Professional Responsibility Committee, the Fiduciary Administration Task Force, the Program Committee, the Joint Task Force of ACTEC and the National College of Probate Judges, and the Advisory Committee to ACTEC’s Mid-Atlantic Fellows Institute.      

Active in the American Bar Association (ABA), Steve has held leadership roles in the ABA’s Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section, including:  Chair of the Litigation, Ethics and Malpractice Group, as well as Chair of that Group’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and Probate and Fiduciary Litigation Committee; Section Liaison to the ABA Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee; and several administrative Committees in the Section.   

Steve is a national lecturer and author. He has lectured and published for ACTEC, the Heckerling Institute, the National College of Probate Judges, the American Bar Association, the New Jersey Bar Association, the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education Group, the Duke University Estate Planning Conference, the Delaware Trust Conference, and Estate Planning Councils and other professional groups around the country. He authors the treatise, Estate and Trust Litigation, and is the editor and contributing author of The New Jersey Estate Planning Manual and New Jersey Probate Procedures Manual. In 2017, the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education honored him with the Distinguished Service Award.  

Steve is also a Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a national honorary society for trial lawyers.

An attorney since 1989, Steve has been with Archer & Greiner since 1988, when he joined the firm as a law clerk. Steve is admitted to the bars of the state and federal courts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He is also admitted to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.  

Steve earned his law degree from Rutgers University School of Law, and obtained his Bachelor’s Degree from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Along with his service to the legal profession, Steve remains active in various charitable and community organizations, including the Philly Pops Board, the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation Board, the Chevaliers du Tastevin, and the Knights of Columbus. In 2021, he was honored by the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation as a Community Champion.  In 2020, he was recognized by the Camden County Bar Association as the Professional Lawyer of the Year, through the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law. In 2017, Steve received the Excalibur Award from the Bishop Eustace Preparatory School Alumni Association, recognizing his lifetime achievement in civic, religious, humanitarian, and professional endeavors.

Brian C. Martel is a Partner in Torchin Martel Orr LLC (TMO Law), based in Paramus, NJ, and specializes in Family Law. Brian has devoted 100% of his professional practice to family law and related matters, including all aspects of divorce, separation, custody and parenting time, spousal and child support, equitable distribution of property, prenuptial agreements, mediation, arbitration, domestic violence, post-judgment matters and appeals. Brian understands that your divorce and family-related matters can be an extremely emotional and financially trying time in your life. He treats all of his clients with the utmost professionalism, dignity, and respect, while at the same time he vigorously advocates for his client’s interests and protects his client’s rights.

Prior to entering private practice, Brian served as Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Edward V. Torack, J.S.C., in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division – Family Part. Through that experience, Brian developed valuable insight into the Court’s analysis and disposition of complex legal and procedural issues.  Brian then joined a mid-size Northern NJ firm, where he eventually became the Co-Chair of the Family Law practice group. Brian received his Juris Doctorate degree from Seton Hall University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland, where he was elected to serve as the Chief Justice for the “InterFraternity Council” through which he presided over Disciplinary Hearings and helped redraft the Fraternity and Sorority systems social policy. Brian prides himself on strongly advocating for the best interests of children and his empathetic, honest, and straight-forward approach with his clients. Brian works with each of his clients to create an individualized and strategic approach based on the specific circumstances and facts of each case with a goal of achieving an amicable and cost-effective resolution. Brian frequently works with some of the premiere mediators and arbitrators in the area, but in the unfortunate event a case cannot be settled, Brian has extensive litigation and trial experience in the New Jersey Superior Courts and Appellate Division

Brian volunteers his time to serve as an Early Settlement Panelist in Bergen County, during which he reviews pending divorce and family law cases to make recommendations regarding potential settlement. Brian has also been appointed by the Superior Court to serve as an Attorney-in-Fact to intervene and assist in high-conflict cases.

REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS:

1.     Please register on Eventbrite to reserve your ticket and to let us know your CE requirements. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trusts-estate-planning-and-divorce-tickets-891829625417

2.     Next, please register for the Zoom Webinar at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hqTHv_5GSJawC6nGTbZU3A

3.     When you register for the Zoom webinar in Step 2, you will receive an email with instructions on how to attend the webinar on the day of the event. Every attendee receives an individual and unique Zoom link, so we will not be sending additional communication about how to join the webinar.

NOTE: If you were a GNJEPC member in the past, but have not renewed for the 2023-24 season, you will need to purchase a Non-Renewed Member ticket for this event.

Applications are pending for 2.0 continuing education credits for CFP, NJ CLE, and NJ CPE. If you wish to receive CE credits, you must provide the necessary license information, and you must attend the full course.