Joseph C. Mahon is a partner in our Estate Planning & Administration Group. He has, for more than 25 years, advised clients on Estate Planning, Estate, Gift and Income Tax Planning, Generation Skipping Transfer Tax Planning, State Death Taxes, Family Office Services, Family Governance, Liquidity Events, Business Succession, Insurance, Lifetime Gifts, including Valuation Discounts, Grantor Trusts, Dynasty Trusts, Family Limited Partnerships, Intra-Family Loans, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, Private Annuities, Qualified Personal Residence Trusts, Crummey Trusts, Trust Terminations, Trustee Succession, Trust Protectors, Pre-Nuptial Agreements, Powers of Attorney, and Health Care Proxies. He also guides clients through trust and estate litigation and dispute resolution, including contested guardianships and other issues unique to non-U.S. persons and assets.
Credentials
Joe has written numerous articles on trust and estate matters. Detailed descriptions below. His articles have appeared in:
•Trusts & Estates magazine
•Estate Planning magazine
•New Jersey Lawyer
•Unique Homes
Joe has lectured frequently on estate planning for leading organizations including:
•New York City Bar Association
•New York State Bar
•New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education
•New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants
•Princeton Bar Association
Awards/Recognition
Joe has been selected for inclusion on the New York Super Lawyers list from 2012 to 2019 in Estate Planning and Probate. This peer designation is awarded to only a select number of attorneys in each state. He was also named to the Best Lawyers in America list 2017 - 2019 in Trusts and Estates.
Community
Joe served as a member of the New York City Bar's Committee on Trusts & Estates, the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Legislation -- Trusts & Estates Section. He has served on the Committee on Taxation, from 2018 through the present. He has also served on several charitable boards, including the Board of Trustees of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, in Cold Spring, New York.
Publications
“The Beneficiaries’ Dilemma: controlling the spiraling cost of wealth management,” Wealth Management.com, April 10, 2015, https://wealthmanagement.com/high-net-worth/beneficiaries-dilemma?page=1
“Planning Trust Administration to Avoid Conflict,” with Patricia Angus, co-author, Trusts and Estates, December, 2014
“95 Theses for Managing Your Wealth,” with Elizabeth P. Anderson, co-author, published as White Paper by Beekman Wealth Advisory, LLC, Fall 2014, http://beekmanwealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/95-Theses-for-Managing-Wealth1.pdf
“New York State Significantly Changes its Estate and Gift Tax Regime: It may be necessary to re-evaluate current plans,” with Adam Osterweil, co-author, Apr 8, 2014, http://wealthmanagement.com/estate-planning/new-york-state-significantly-changes-its-estate-and-gift-tax-regimes
“Reasonable Compensation: Florida court considers whether the “lodestar” method applies to determine trustee fees,” Trusts and Estates, March 2014
“Estate Planning Shades of Grey: Giving discretion to a trustee may be more complicated than you think,” Dec 11, 2013, http://wealthmanagement.com/estate-planning/estate-planning-shades-grey
“Income Conundrum: An elusive concept, subject to changing interpretations,” Apr 22, 2013, http://wealthmanagement.com/estate-planning/income-conundrum
“Defining the Estate: Why Do You Ask?” Feb. 14, 2013 http://wealthmanagement.com/app-exclusive/defining-estate-why-do-you-ask
“Sonnabend Case Settles: Rauschenberg eagle lands tax free,” Nov. 29, 2012 http://wealthmanagement.com/taxes/sonnabend-case-settles
“IRS Issues Draft Form 706,” Sep. 14, 2012, http://wealthmanagement.com/estate-planning/irs-issues-draft-form-706
“Spousal Access Trust Makes Use of Enlarged Gift Tax Exemption,” Estate Planning, August 2012
“The Value of Unsalable Art: In Estate of Sonnabend, a golden eagle creates some major complications.” July 27, 2012, http://wealthmanagement.com/estate-planning/value-unsalable-art
“Playing Ball with Survivor Benefits: Jose Lima’s descendants must now step up and take their cuts.” June 19, 2012. http://wealthmanagement.com/wealth-planning/playing-ball-survivor-benefits
“The ‘TEA’ Factor: How Much Appreciation Must Occur for a Gift to Provide Estate Tax Savings Greater Than Income Tax Costs?” Trusts and Estates, August 2011.
“Tax on Phantom Tax - Practitioners in Decoupled States Beware,” Trust & Estates, June 2009.
“Intent, Process and Liability in Estate Planning,” New Jersey Lawyer, The Magazine, August 2001, No. 210.
“Inter-Vivos Transfers of Closely Held Business Interests,” Advanced Estate Planning seminar materials, with Hume Steyer, Esq., as co-author, New York State Bar Association, Fall, 1998.
Interests in Closely-Held Businesses, Estate Planning and Will Drafting seminar materials, with Hume Steyer, Esq., as co-author, New York State Bar Association, Spring 1990 and Spring 1996.
Blitzkrieg on Family Businesses: Planners Should Review Transactions Involving Closely-Held Businesses in Light of Section 2036(c), Trusts & Estates Magazine (February 1989).
Estate Planning for Residential Property, with Ira Lustgarten, Esq., as co-author, Unique Homes, (June/July 1988).
Poorly Conceived Statute Bad for Business: Section 2036(c) Creates Disincentives for Younger Generations, Trusts & Estates Magazine (May 1988).
Report on Proposed Technical Corrections to the Generations Skipping Transfer Tax, primary author, Committee on Trusts, Estates & Surrogates' Courts, Association of the Bar of the City of New York (June 16, 1987).
Grantor Lead Trusts: New Tax Savings Under the 10 Percent Tables, Trusts & Estates Magazine (August 1984).
Lectures
New York City Bar Association, Bridge the Gap, New Jersey Estate Planning and Administration, January 31 and February 7, 2011, February 3, 2012, February 1, 2013, September 18, 2013, May 27, 2015, and May 24, 2016.
Fordham Law School, Bridge the Gap, New Jersey Estate Planning and Administration, May 14, 2016.
New York City Bar Association, Crossing State Borders in Trust & Estate Law: What the New York Practitioner Needs to Know About Florida, New Jersey, Delaware & Connecticut, November 6, 2006, December 12, 2007, and February 5, 2009, October 20, 2010, November 11, 2011.
New York State Bar Association, Basic Estate Planning, Life Insurance and Retirement Benefits, New York, New York, October 24, 2011.
ICLE Seminar, Moderator and Speaker, Estate Planning for Special Situations, Voorhees, New Jersey, December 1, 2007.
ICLE Skills and Methods Program, Instructor, Will Drafting and Estate Administration, January 19, 2008 and January 17, 2009.
New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, Atlantic/Cape May chapter, CPE Seminar, Current Developments in Estate Planning and Administration, July 22, 2004, April 21 and July 21, 2005, and April 27 and July 27, 2006, April 26 and July 26, 2007, April 24 and July 24, 2008, July 23, 2009.
New Jersey State Bar Association Foundation, Estate Planning Lecture for General Public, New Brunswick, Spring, 2003 and 2004.
Panel Member: “Lessons from the Sandbox: Professionals Solving Problems Together,” Society of Financial Service Professionals, South Jersey Chapter, September 17, 2003.
New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, Atlantic/Cape May chapter, CPE Seminar, Split Dollar Life Insurance, July 24, 2003.
New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, Atlantic/Cape May chapter, CPE Seminar on Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, November 2002.
New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, Atlantic/Cape May chapter, CPE Seminar on Planning for Retirement Assets, July 2002.
New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, Atlantic/Cape May chapter, CPE Seminar on Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, July 26, 2001.
Princeton Bar Association, Panel Discussion on Conflicts of Interests, with Israel Dubin, Esq., and Kevin Michaels, Esq., Nassau Club, Princeton, New Jersey (March 20, 2001).
Mercer County Chapter, New Jersey State Society of Certified Public Accountants, Annual Tax Seminar, Lecturer on Estate Planning, December 1995 and December 1996.
New York State Bar Association, Lecturer, Estate Planning and Will Drafting Seminar, Lecturer on Closely Held Business Interests, Uniondale, New York (May 24, 1990).
Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Forum on I.R.C. 2036(c) (Fall 1989).
