Publications — Page 12 of 47 — Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Firm News & Events

The Challenge Of Being A Sympathetic Divorce Lawyer

Published on: April 19, 2021 | by Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

Nicole Kobis, Partner in Lindabury’s Divorce & Family Law group, recently contributed an article to Above The Law on the challenges of being a sympathetic divorce lawyer.

The task of the compassionate divorce lawyer is not easy: it requires balancing sympathy and acknowledgment of the emotional turmoil occurring in my clients’ lives while at the same time ensuring that they understand the boundaries of the law. I work even harder now to make sure that when a client leaves my office, they know that divorce is not the end of their lives. Instead, I help them finish one chapter and immediately turn the page to begin a new chapter which though different, could be even better than the one before.

You can read Nicole’s entire article here.

Divorce and the Business Owner

Published on: April 1, 2021 | by Frederick A. D'Arcangelo

Divorce attorneys are often asked the following question: “I am thinking about getting divorced. I own part of a family business. What should I be doing?”

There are two questions to ask before answering.

Do you have a buy-sell agreement?

The New Jersey Cannabis Microbusiness License: An Entrepreneur’s Guide

Published on: March 29, 2021 | by Robert W. Anderson

On Feb. 22, 2021 Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act, which established the framework for a legal, adult-use cannabis industry in New Jersey. By some estimates, recreational cannabis may grow to be a billion-dollar industry in the state over the next few years. Many have worried that much of this growing economic pie may be grabbed by large, well-capitalized cannabis companies from out of state that have already established themselves in those other markets where recreational cannabis was legalized earlier than New Jersey.

Enter the microbusiness license.

Per New Jersey’s cannabis licensing laws, a microbusiness is a cannabis business with strong established connections with New Jersey that is subject to certain size and operational limitations. A significant number of licenses to operate in the cannabis industry will be earmarked solely for such microbusinesses. As such, microbusinesses will only need to compete against one another during the application process, rather than needing to compete directly with larger, more established businesses. This potentially gives entrepreneurial start-up companies seeking to delve into the cannabis industry a path forward without getting pushed aside by multi-state operators (MSOs) in the frenzy once New Jersey begins accepting applications.

Zero Tolerance Policy? Not So Fast. Proposed Cannabis bill offers Clarification and Possible Relief to Some Employers.

Published on: March 18, 2021 | by Elizabeth Engert Manzo

After much anticipation, New Jersey’s Governor Murphy signed the “New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act” into law on February 22, 2021. While this law made adult use recreational cannabis legal, the extensive law, together with a few “clean up bills,” did a whole lot more than legalization. In hundreds of pages, this law created the broad framework for the development and regulation of the entire cannabis industry including licensing, manufacture, distribution, taxation, enforcement, as well as criminal and social justice reforms for the possession and use of cannabis. It is therefore not surprising that some issues of particular importance to employers, such as drug testing and carve-outs for certain industries, are still hazy.

Importantly, while some provisions of the law became effective immediately, the provisions governing employment and those “activities associated with the personal use of cannabis,” are not operative until the newly appointed five member Cannabis Regulatory Commission adopts initial rules and regulations. These regulations, which will interpret and instruct how the law will be implemented, are required sometime within 180 days of the law’s adoption, or by mid-August 2021.

How does recreational marijuana impact Zero Tolerance Marijuana Policies?

Estate Planning With Family Businesses

Published on: February 25, 2021 | by Anne Marie Robbins

To the owners of family businesses, estate planning can sometimes be an after-thought. Owners are often so involved in building their business and managing its daily operations that they do not have time to devote to the planning that will become important when the owner is ready to hand over management control and ownership to successors. It is often the case with successful family businesses that there has been little or no thought given to the transition of management and ownership, with the result being there is no succession plan in place. Further, available strategies to transfer the ownership of the business to younger generations of the family in a tax-effective manner may not have been utilized.

When a family business is one of the assets, or perhaps the primary asset, a well thought out strategic and financial plan for the business and an estate plan for the family are critically important. The following is a brief and by no means exhaustive outline of some points to consider.

Strategic Planning

Unclaimed Property in New Jersey

Published on: February 25, 2021 | by Anne Marie Robbins

Every state has an unclaimed property program holding forgotten property belonging to its residents such as uncashed checks, security deposits, abandoned accounts, and more. “Unclaimed property” generally refers to tangible (items in safe deposit boxes) and intangible (bank accounts, stocks, and checks) personal property. Eventually, the state takes over the unclaimed property in a process known as “escheatment.”

In New Jersey, the Unclaimed Property Administration is a section of the Department of the Treasury. The Mission Statement of the Unclaimed Property Administration is set forth on its website and reads as follows:

“The Unclaimed Property Administration (UPA) recovers and records abandoned or lost intangible and tangible property. The UPA’s goal is to return this property to the rightful owner and/or heirs. The New Jersey Unclaimed Property Statute ensures that property owners never relinquish the right to this property and the UPA only acts as a custodian until the property is returned.”

Increased Estate & Gift Tax Exemption for 2021

Published on: February 25, 2021 | by Anne Marie Robbins

The federal estate and gift tax exemption (known as the “basic exclusion amount”) has increased to $11.7 million per taxpayer in 2021. The exemption in 2020 had been $11.58 million. The increase means that in 2021, an individual can make gifts during life or at death totaling $11.7 million without incurring gift or estate tax; a married couple can transfer $23.4 million of assets. The annual gift tax exclusion remains at $15,000 per donee (or $30,000 if spouses elect gift-splitting).

Note that it seems likely the Biden administration will attempt to pass a reduction in the exemption as well as other changes to the estate and gift tax law during the next two years when there are Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. It is unknown whether any such changes will be made retroactive to January 1, 2021.

We recommend consulting with your estate planning attorney early in 2021 to discuss whether large gifts now may be advisable.

NJ Passes the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act

Published on: February 22, 2021 | by Robert W. Anderson

On December 17, 2020, the New Jersey legislature passed the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (the “Act”), providing the framework for legal adult recreational cannabis use in New Jersey. The Act lays out the ground rules for licensing arrangements for the cultivation, packaging, distribution, advertising, and retail sale of recreational cannabis to persons 21 years old or older. Governor Murphy signed the legislation into law on February 22, 2021.

It is important to note that the passage of the Act does not immediately make “street pot” legal—instead, it provides the roadmap for businesses to become licensed so that they may take part in the future legal adult recreational cannabis market in New Jersey. Cannabis, however, will no longer be a Schedule 1 controlled dangerous drug under New Jersey law (although it remains so at the Federal level).

Although the Act is over 200 pages long, it still requires that the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (“CRC”) develop regulations to flesh out the details of how these arrangements will all be put into practice. For example, there are currently no application forms to apply for any license to operate in the cannabis market in New Jersey. These forms, their instructions, and a host of other details all need to be developed before any business can apply for one of the required licenses. The CRC has been given 180 days to develop these enabling regulations and forms. That said, individuals and businesses interested in entering into this market will want to keep apprised of the details of these ongoing regulatory developments so that they can position themselves to have already put arrangements in place which will allow them to immediately move forward with the application process as soon as it becomes available.

OSHA Issues New Guidance on Mitigating COVID-19 in the Workplace

Published on: February 12, 2021 | by Kathleen M. Connelly

On the heels of President Biden’s Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety directing the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) to issue “science-based guidance” to protect workers from COVID-19 exposure, the agency announced its updated guidance entitled Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace (the “Guidance”). Along with providing information for employees on protecting against COIVD-19 infection, the Guidance provides additional details on key measures employers should take to limit the spread of the virus in the workplace.

Implementation of a COVID-19 protection program. Although most employers have already implemented safety protocols in response to prior CDC guidance on reopening the workplace, the new Guidance provides greater details on recommended COVID-19 prevention programs which should include the following elements:

Assignment of a workplace coordinator responsible for COVID-19 issues on the employer’s behalf.

CDC Recommends Vaccinated Persons Do Not Need to Quarantine After Exposure to COVID-19

Published on: February 12, 2021 | by Kathleen M. Connelly

Now that COVID-19 vaccines are being administered to the general population, the Centers for Disease Control (the “CDC”) has issued new quarantine recommendations for individuals who have received the vaccination.

Quarantine not necessary for vaccinated individuals outside a healthcare setting who meet certain criteria. Under the new CDC recommendations, individuals who have been fully vaccinated (one or two doses depending upon the authorized vaccine) are no longer required to quarantine for 14 days after exposure or suspected exposure to COVID-19 if they meet the following criteria:

they have been fully vaccinated , with at least 14 days since their final dose;