ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY

The increasing diversity within the American population and developments with burial technology have caused multiplied the possible post-death possibilities for disposition of remains. In order to be culturally sensitive to clients a particularly difficult time, and also to help clients avoid running afoul of laws regarding disposition of remains, estate planners should expand their cultural competency by learning about different religious and cultural traditions around death and disposition of remains.

The presentation will explore:

• Burial Rights and Practices: Examining traditional casket burials versus emerging options (such as cremation and natural organic reduction) and how various faiths view body disposition.
• Religious Inheritance Rules: How specific religious traditions dictate the distribution of assets, which may conflict with or complement standard secular estate documents.
• Cultural Competence and Ethics: Guidance for estate planners, attorneys, and financial advisors on handling sensitive spiritual conversations with clients respectfully.
   

Lauren Wolven
Lauren concentrates her practice on estate planning, representing corporate fiduciaries, tax, and succession planning for privately held businesses, and trust and estate administration and litigation. In addition, Lauren works extensively with foundations and other charitable organizations with respect to administration, tax, and planning issues.

Lauren is a fellow of the estate planning organization, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), where she is also a Regent and the former State Chair for Illinois. ACTEC membership is based on professional reputation, experience in the fields of trusts and estates, and existing contributions to these fields through lecturing, writing, teaching, and bar activities. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law where she teaches an LLM course. 

Stacy Singer
Stacy E. Singer is the National Practice Leader for Trust and Wealth Advisory Services at The Northern Trust Company, where she works closely with trust professionals on all aspects of the delivery of fiduciary services to clients nationally and with wealth advisory professionals on the delivery of proactive wealth planning advice. She previously served as the National Director of Estate Settlement Services. Stacy joined Northern Trust in 2003 as a Vice President and an Estate Administrator, and then served as a Manager of Administration in the Estate Settlement Services Group, managing a team and handling account acceptance and risk management for the division.

Tanya Marsh
Tanya Marsh primarily teaches Property, Decedents Estates and Trusts, and the only course in a US law school on Funeral and Cemetery Law. Her scholarship focuses on laws regarding the status, treatment, and disposition of human remains. Marsh is the author of The Law of Human Remains (2015), the first treatise on the subject in more than 50 years, and co-author (with Daniel Gibson) of Cemetery Law: The Common Law of Burying Grounds in the United States (2015). She frequently writes and speaks about issues related to the law of human remains. She also publishes a podcast on the topic called Death, et seq. (https://deathetseq.com/).