Karin I. Spalding

Karin Spalding advises on all phases of the administration of estates and trusts, along with post-mortem tax planning and controversy matters. During what is an overwhelming time for those faced with the passing of a loved one, Karin assists clients with the entire the legal process. She works directly with the family and financial professionals to ensure the proper requirements are met.

Karin guides each of her executors through the probate process for a Last Will and Testament or the process of intestacy in Surrogate’s Court in New Jersey and New York. She understands the problems of administration and helps to resolve any difficulties in the passing of estate and/or trust property. Karin advises executors, administrators and trustees through the complexities of their fiduciary duties and tax filing responsibilities. She prepares all federal and state death tax returns with an emphasis on tax savings and audit defense tactics for high net worth estates. Karin also applies her knowledge to fiduciary accounting matters, after death planning and the termination of estate and trusts.

Karin handles gift, estate and fiduciary income tax audits and refund suits at both the federal and state level. Similarly, she represents beneficiaries seeking to protect their inheritances or to recover their rightful shares. Out-of-state fiduciaries rely on Karin to handle, manage, collect and coordinate the sale of local property on behalf of the estate. She also represents a growing number of fiduciaries seeking to correct past problems or filings created by the malpractice of prior professionals.

Representative Experience
Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.

• Represented and advised hundreds of executors and families in the administration of decedents’ estates in Surrogate’s Court and before the Internal Revenue Service and state taxing authorities
• Successfully defended against numerous federal and state tax audits, including many family partnership/LLC gift and estate tax audits
• Provided advice in locating unknown heirs to estates and in defending fiduciaries against unknown heirs claiming shares of estates
• Coordinated numerous multi-state and multi-national estates with unique, varied, and substantial assets and complex tax and non-tax issues
• Represented non-domiciliary estates in ancillary New York and/or New Jersey matters
• Successfully provided advice on pre-death choice of domicile thereby resulting in significant increase in clients inheritance and successfully defended post-mortem challenge by state taxing authorities to change of domicile
• Successfully represented beneficiaries against a fiduciary in the mismanagement of estate and to force distribution of inheritance
• Assisted numerous fiduciaries to correct issues created by previous professionals
• Successfully changed domicile to non-taxable state, saving substantial estate taxes for family
• Successfully sued for removal of fiduciary and turnover of estate and probate of after-found Will in a multi-million dollar estate

Professional and Community Affiliations

• New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA)
  • Member, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section
  • Member, Taxation Law Section
• New York State Bar Association

• • Member, Tax Section 
  • Member, Trusts and Estates Law Section