All of us at Garden State Trust Company are excited to share with you that we have moved our South Jersey Regional office from Cherry Hill to One Holtec Drive, Suite G101, Marlton, New Jersey 08053.

Sean M. Rice, CTFA (Certified Trust and Financial Advisor), is a Vice President & Trust Officer and will serve as our South Jersey Regional manager. 

In 2011 our CFO, Barbara Kannheiser, and I determined that we wanted to expand our New Jersey presence by looking to the South Jersey market. By coincidence, in early 2012 an attorney we worked very closely with over the years asked me if I would take time to meet with her son, Sean, who was graduating from the Smeal College of Business at Penn State University, where he learned the fundamentals of trust banking. This was not supposed to be an interview! However, after meeting Sean, I called Barbara and told her that I think we found our representative for South Jersey.

So, since 2012, Sean has been working diligently to expand our client relationships and professional network in the South Jersey marketplace. Fast forward 10 years and now as regional manager he plays a pivotal role in attracting and retaining clients by cultivating new relationships via professional associations, local community events, and a wide array of relationship-building activities. In his professional activities, Sean is a member of the following:

  • New Jersey State and Burlington County Bar Association
  • Board of Trustees of Camden County Bar Foundation
  • Estate and Financial Planning Council of Southern New Jersey
  • Moorestown Rotary Lunch Club

Sean is also responsible for our Linwood Regional office located at 2021 New Road, Suite 9, Linwood, New Jersey 08221. You can contact Sean at srice@gstrustco.com or at (856) 281-1300.

From the beginning, we at Garden State Trust Company have differentiated ourselves from other Trust Service providers, not only by the quality of the services we provide, but by the highest standards, the uncompromising principles and character of the people we have trained, developed, and promoted to deliver our services.
FAMOUS WILL FOR THE MONTH JOHN F. KENNEDY
CLICK THE NAME TO READ
CLICK THE NAME TO READ
The Will of John F. Kennedy is interesting. First, it makes specific gifts of tangible personal property and real estate to various individuals. Second, the residue (remainder) of his estate is "poured-over" to a revocable living trust.
In the Informational Article, Unretirement, the pandemic led to many people retiring earlier than they had planned to, in part because so many businesses had to shrink their payrolls in response to the lockdowns. As the pandemic has eased, the American economy now has a labor shortage problem, resulting in employers raising wages to attract and retain the workers that they need. That has contributed to a growing phenomenon, the "unretirement," in which the recently retired decide to come back into the work force.

Read Keys To Finding the Perfect Place To Retire in the Of Interest links. It is not just about packing up and heading south.

All of us at Garden State Trust Company wish you a Happy Passover and a Happy Easter! And we should all continue to pray for and support as best we can the people of Ukraine.

Sincerely,
Ira J. Brower, Founder
Unretirement
The pandemic led to many people retiring earlier than they had planned to, in part because so many businesses had to shrink their payrolls in response to the lockdowns. As the pandemic has eased, now the American economy has a labor shortage problem, resulting in employers raising wages to attract and retain the workers that they need.

That has contributed to a growing phenomenon, the "unretirement," in which the recently retired decide to come back into the work force. According to a recent New York Times article:

  • Participation in the labor force of those over age 65 has risen from 12.8% to 18.8% over the last 16 years.
  • About 40% of workers over age 65 have been retired earlier.
  • Some 25% of retirees decide to return to work in some fashion.

The article reports that financial considerations do not seem to be the primary driver behind returning to work. 
Instead, the unretired are looking for social engagement and a sense of purpose.

For example, Bonnie Rubin wrote an article for Forbes about her decision to go back to work (https://www.forbes.com/sites/bonnierubin/2022/04/05/the-joy-of-a-little-retirement-job/). The novelty of retirement for her became stale after a few years, and she found an opportunity with special appeal. Ms. Rubin took a part-time job in a flower shop that was 15 minutes from her home. In addition to the welcome interactions with co-workers and customers, she learned much more about flowers, a lifelong interest. Somewhat ironically in the internet age, she reports, the store owners particularly appreciated her old-fashioned writing and penmanship skills when it came to preparing the notes on the florist cards.

For employers, she points out, those returning to work from retirement may be a bargain, in addition to the skills and experience they bring to the job. They may not need health insurance, they probably aren't looking for paid vacations, and climbing the career ladder is not on their agenda.

From the employee's perspective, if Social Security benefits were started at age 62 (or any date earlier than the full retirement age) those benefits may be reduced if wages are too high. There is no benefit reduction after reaching full retirement age (66 for those born between 1943 and 1954, 66 and four months for those born in 1956 and turning 66 this year). 

(April 2022)
© 2022 M.A. Co. All rights reserved.
Inherited IRAs for Kids
One of the hot estate planning strategies earlier in this century was to name a minor child as the surviving beneficiary of an IRA. The child would have to take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from the IRA every year, but they would be geared to the child's lifetime, so very low payouts in the early years. What a wonderful lifetime financial resource!

The idea was too good to last, and it was ended with the SECURE Act in 2019. Although there are some exceptions, including for a surviving spouse, in general an inherited IRA must be distributed to the heir during the ten years following the owner's death.

One of the exceptions in the new law had a troublesome ambiguity concerning an heir who is a minor child. The law states that the ten-year rule for minors only kicks in when they reach the "age of majority." Until then, they may take much smaller distributions based upon their life expectancy. But states have different laws as to when the age of majority happens. What's more, in some states the status of "minor" may be extended for full-time college students, until age 26.

The IRS put the ambiguity to rest in Proposed Regulations in February. For purposes of inherited IRA distributions, the age of majority will be 21, and there are no exceptions for students. For example, if the ten-year-old child of the IRA owner inherits the account, there will be small RMDs for 11 years, and then the account will have to be distributed over the next ten years. The IRA must be terminated when the child reaches age 31.

(April 2022)
© 2022 M.A. Co. All rights reserved.
Elder Abuse in Estate Planning
This is a true story that happened in California. It is taken from court records, and so the names have not been changed to protect the innocent or the guilty.

Thomas and Wanda Tedesco had three daughters and a successful family business. In 1988 they prepared an estate plan for the daughters and grandchildren, which involved trusts and partnerships. Wanda died in 2002, and the Family Trust was divided into five separate trusts.

Five years later, in 2007, Thomas remarried. He and his new wife, Gloria, each had multimillion-dollar fortunes, and they each had children from earlier marriages. Accordingly, the marriage was subject to prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. In 2011, powers of attorney were conveyed to Thomas' three daughters. In June 2013 Thomas' trust arrangements were made irrevocable. 

Everything changed in the fall of 2013, after Thomas had a series of surgeries and his capacity became diminished. Thomas had been working with an estate planner for decades, and suddenly the attorney found his calls were being blocked. Gloria would not allow the daughters to visit their father. According to the Court:

"A housekeeper, Virginia Winn, confronted Gloria and said, 'You can't keep the girls from seeing their dad. They're not stupid!' Gloria responded, 'I don't care.' Gloria told Thomas that his daughters were 'being bad' to her, blocked his communication with his family, and attempted to erase them from his memory by removing photographs of them."

Then, for the first time, Thomas was indicating a desire to leave 75% of his estate to Gloria and 25% to charity.

Alarmed, the daughters petitioned for a conservatorship for Thomas in 2014. They alleged that Gloria and her daughter, Wear, were scheming to sabotage their relationship with their father and to use undue influence to get him to change his estate plans. The conservatorship was granted in 2015, and an independent conservator was appointed.

Wear (Gloria's daughter) worked as a paralegal in a law office, and despite the conservatorship she facilitated communications between Thomas and her employer. There were repeated attempts to get the conservatorship terminated. 

In January 2020 there was a purported amendment to Thomas' estate plan, disinheriting the daughters. In April 2020 Thomas' daughter applied for and received an Elder Abuse Restraining Order against Wear and several others. Wear appealed the decision, but she lost. The purported amendment to the estate plan was void because it was executed without notice to the conservator.

The case is White v. Wear (2022) An appeal of an elder abuse restraining order is unusual, and such orders are not common when a conservatorship has been ordered.

(April 2022)
© 2022 M.A. Co. All rights reserved.
Articles of Interest
From Eric Kim's Korean American to Salad Freak from Jess Damuck, here's what we have on our list this year. Read More


Just packing up and heading south when you retire isn't the answer. We offer some smart guidance to finding your best place to retire. Read More


A stress-free getaway awaits at these affordable all-in-one properties. Read More
WALL - MAIN OFFICE
732-255-5000

SOUTH JERSEY REGIONAL OFFICE
856-281-1300
LEBANON REGIONAL OFFICE
908-287-7188

LINWOOD REGIONAL OFFICE 
888-323-5535
Garden State Trust Company | gstrustco.com
Because of the rapidly changing nature of tax, legal or accounting rules and our reliance on outside sources, Garden State Trust Company makes no warranty or guarantee of the accuracy or reliability of information contained herein nor do we take responsibility for any decision made or action taken by you in reliance upon information provided here or at other sites to which we link. ©2022. All rights reserved.