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Why Choose Our Firm?
Helping New Jersey Families Secure Their Futures for Over 40 Years
A comprehensive estate plan is one of the most important gifts you can give your family. For more than four decades, our attorneys have helped individuals and families throughout Northern New Jersey create legally sound wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and advance healthcare directives — ensuring that their wishes are honored and their loved ones are protected.
Estate Planning Is Far More Than Just Writing a Will
A properly structured estate plan minimizes taxes, avoids costly probate delays, protects your assets from creditors, and ensures your property passes to the right people — on your timeline. Without the right documents in place, your family may face unnecessary court proceedings, family conflict, and financial hardship. Our attorneys craft personalized plans built around your unique goals, assets, and family circumstances.
Planning Today Means Peace of Mind Tomorrow
Whether you’re creating your first will, establishing a revocable living trust, or updating an outdated plan after a major life event, our team guides you through every step with clarity and care. We take the time to truly understand your situation — so the plan we create is one you feel confident in, and one that will truly work when your family needs it most.
Common Estate Planning Mistakes That Put Your Family at Risk
Not Having a Will or Trust in Place
Dying without a valid estate plan means New Jersey intestacy laws — not your wishes — determine who inherits your property. This can result in assets passing to unintended parties, costly probate delays, and serious hardship for the people you love most.
Failing to Update Your Estate Plan After Life Changes
Marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, the death of a beneficiary, or a significant change in assets can render an outdated estate plan ineffective — or worse, actively harmful. Plans should be reviewed every few years and after any major life event.
Naming the Wrong or Outdated Beneficiaries
Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, and certain assets override what your will says. Outdated or incorrect designations — such as a former spouse — can cause assets to pass to the wrong person entirely, regardless of your intentions.
Not Planning for Incapacity
Without a durable power of attorney and healthcare directive, your family may be forced to petition a court for guardianship just to manage your affairs if you become incapacitated. This is an expensive, time-consuming process that is entirely avoidable with proper planning.
Assuming a Will Avoids Probate
Many families are surprised to learn that a will does not bypass the probate process — it goes through it. A properly structured revocable living trust, on the other hand, allows your estate to transfer privately and efficiently to your beneficiaries without court involvement.
Using DIY Estate Planning Documents
Online forms and template documents often fail to satisfy New Jersey’s specific legal requirements for execution, witnessing, and notarization — leaving families with invalid documents when they need them most. Investing in a proper estate plan today prevents far greater costs and heartbreak later.
With Experienced Estate Planning Counsel, You Can:
✓ Create a legally valid will that truly reflects your wishes
A properly drafted and executed will ensures your property goes to the people you choose — and that guardians you trust are named for your minor children — with no ambiguity or legal challenge.
✓ Protect your estate from unnecessary taxes and probate delays
Strategic trust planning and beneficiary designations can allow your estate to transfer privately and efficiently — avoiding the public probate process and reducing your estate’s tax burden.
✓ Ensure your children and loved ones are fully provided for
Whether providing for a minor child, a loved one with special needs, or a beneficiary who is not yet financially mature, we structure distributions to protect rather than burden the people you care about most.
✓ Name trusted agents to manage your affairs if incapacitated
With a durable power of attorney and healthcare proxy in place, the right people are empowered to make critical financial and medical decisions on your behalf — without costly court intervention.
✓ Prevent family conflict and costly legal disputes after you’re gone
Clear, comprehensive estate planning documents reduce ambiguity and the likelihood of family disagreements, will contests, and litigation — preserving both your estate and your relationships.
The right estate plan starts with a single conversation.
Every day without an estate plan is a day your family’s future is left unprotected. Circumstances change, health changes, laws change — and without the right documents in place, the people you love most may face avoidable hardship at the worst possible moment.
The attorneys at Gruber Colabella Thompson Hiben & Montella are ready to help you build a plan that reflects your values, protects your assets, and gives your family the security they deserve.
The sooner you act, the more options you have to protect what you’ve built.
