NY vs NJ Estate Planning and Administration

Presenters

Shawna A. Brown, Esq.

Mandelbaum Barrett PC, Roseland

is Counsel to Mandelbaum Barrett P.C. in Roseland, New Jersey, in the firm’s Elder Law, Trusts & Estates and Special Needs Practice Groups. She focuses her practice in estate administration and litigation, including contested and uncontested probate, administration and accounting proceedings.

Ms. Brown is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York. Prior to joining the firm she was an associate at a New York City law firm for more than eight years, where she counseled the Public Administrator of New York County, a city agency which administers the estates of decedents, in connection with estate administration. She has lectured for ICLE and community organizations.

Ms. Brown received her B.A. from Rutgers College, Rutgers University, and her J.D. from New York Law School.
(9/23)

Timothy M. Ferges, Esq.

McCarter & English, LLP, Newark

is a Partner in McCarter & English, LLP in the firm’s Newark, New Jersey, and New York City offices, where he concentrates his practice in trust and estate law, including trust and estate litigation, estate planning, and trust and estate administration. Mr. Ferges brings and defends breach of fiduciary duty claims and handles contested accounting proceedings, Will and trust construction matters, and other fiduciary disputes; and represents beneficiaries, individual fiduciaries, and large institutional trust companies as well as charitable and non-profit organizations in those disputes. He also counsels high-net-worth individuals and families in estate planning goals while integrating asset protection and minimizing exposure to income and transfer taxes.

Admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York, and before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Mr. Ferges has been a member of the American Academy of Attorney—CPAs and the American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, where he has served as Vice Chair of a committee in the Trust & Estates Litigation Group. He is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Fellows Institute of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and the New Jersey State Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section and the New York State Bar Association’s Trusts and Estates Law Section, where he has served on the Estate Litigation Committee. In addition to being an attorney, he is also a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Springpoint Senior Living Foundation.

Mr. Ferges has lectured for ICLE, the National Business Institute and other organizations, and his articles have appeared in the New Jersey Law Journal and other publications. He is the recipient of several honors.

Mr. Ferges received his B.S. from Rutgers University; his M.B.A. from Rutgers Business School; his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he served as Director of the Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Board and as a member of the Interscholastic Moot Court Board; and his LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law. He was Law Clerk to the Honorable Walter Koprowski, Jr. and the Honorable Renee Jones Weeks, Probate Part, Chancery Division, Superior Court of New Jersey.
(8/23)

Stacey M. Valentine, Esq.

Avelino Law, LLP, Florham Park

is a Partner in Avelino Law, LLP with offices in Summit, New Jersey, and New York City, and co-leads the Trusts and Estates Practice Group. With a practice encompassing all aspects of trusts and estates law, she handles income, estate, inheritance, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax issues, and helps clients maximize the benefits of charitable giving. Ms. Valentine assists estate and trust beneficiaries and fiduciaries in enforcing their rights and adhering to their obligations in the event of a dispute, and serves as legal counsel to numerous financial institutions and corporate trustees, assisting those entities in the implementation of their fiduciary duty while addressing the risks inherent to the role of executor or trustee. She also advises clients in general corporate matters arising in closely-held family businesses and has experience working with individuals with special needs.

Ms. Valentine is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York. She is a member of the New Jersey State, New York State and Morris County Bar Associations, and the Board of the Estate Planning Council of Northern New Jersey. She has also sat on the Board of the Women’s Association for the Morristown Medical Center and the Young Professionals Board of Eva’s Village.

Ms. Valentine received her B.A., magna cum laude, from Colgate University and her J.D., cum laude, from Washington & Lee University School of Law.