The transfer of wealth is a challenge, both from a legal and tax perspective and from an emotional and cultural perspective. Michael Gooen has spent more than 20 years assisting families and closely held businesses in wealth transfer planning. Michael helps his clients confront two of life's most sensitive areas — family and mortality — as well as the complex and ever-changing tax system.
Many of Michael's clients are successful professionals with first-generation wealth. Unlike in "old money" families — in which estate planning is already an integral part of the culture — Michael frequently meets clients who are thinking about wealth transfer for the first time. Many of these clients face such issues with varying degrees of discomfort but recognize that taxes, intrafamily conflict, and other factors can lead to financial catastrophe for them and their families. Michael enables his clients to transfer their businesses smoothly and to pass their wealth as tax-efficiently as possible, with proper safeguards designed to allow those assets to provide more benefits than burdens to future generations.
Michael's experience in transactional tax planning — including domestic and cross-border M&A and partnership formation — affords him a level of understanding well appreciated by his clients with closely held businesses, including those in the financial services industry. They recognize Michael's ability to move at their pace, speak their language, and stay attuned to the complexities of their enterprises. As such, Michael's transactional work meshes well with his trust and estate planning. He is particularly adept at designing complex ownership agreements for closely held entities and then counseling the equity holders in their personal wealth transfer planning.
Areas of Practice
Business Tax
Business Tax Counseling & Structuring
Corporate
Investment Management
Trusts & Estates
Professional Career
Professional Associations
American Bar Association
Taxation Section
Real Property, Probate and Trust Section
American College of Trust and Estate Counsel
Fellow
Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest New Jersey
Member, Board of Trustees and Executive Committee
Chair, Grant Review Committee
New Jersey Bar Association
Co-editor, Tax Section Newsletter
Publications
2001 Federal Tax Changes Affect Gift Tax Return Filing Requirements For Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Trusts, February 2002
2001 Federal Tax Changes Force Taxpayers to Reevaluate Their Estate Plans, June 2001
Avoid Crummey Mistakes: Take Care in Structuring Trust Withdrawal Powers, August 17, 2009
Business Tax Counseling & Structuring Alert - IRS Extends Filing Deadlines for Some FBARs, June 2011
Client Alert: New Opportunity for Disclosure of Offshore Accounts, February 11, 2011
Declining Interest Rates Can Mean Transfer Tax Savings, November 1998
Economic Substance Doctrine: IRS Guidance Is Welcome But Leaves Unanswered Questions, July 2011
Estate Planning Update 2013: Back from the Brink, January 3, 2013
Federal Estate Tax Repeal: On the Verge of Reality, December 23, 2009
Foreign Bank Account Reporting (FBAR) Requirements in Connection with Investments in Offshore Hedge Funds, June 18, 2009
GRATs: Make Sure To Sweat All The Small Stuff, July 14, 2008
IRS Extends Deadline for Filing Foreign Bank Account Reports For Certain Taxpayers to September 23, 2009, June 25, 2009
IRS Extends FBAR Filing Deadline for Certain Taxpayers to June 30, 2010, August 10, 2009
Multigenerational Estate Planning: Become a Source of Strength, February 2013
New Jersey Amends Limited Liability Company Act, August 1998
New Jersey Enacts Substantial Tax Hikes, July 8, 2009
New Jersey Repeals S Corporation Income Tax, April 2001
New Jersey's New Partnership Act Highlights Business Planning Opportunity, April 2001
New Law Curtails Common Deferral Practices of Offshore Funds, October 2008
New Tax Act Affects Estate and Retirement Planning, August 2001
Return of the Federal Estate Tax: Now What?, December 2010
Tax Increases in the President's Budget Plan, March 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Key Business and Individual Tax Provisions, February 16, 2009
The Exemption Gap Doesn’t Have To Make Planning a Gamble, January 30, 2006
The Silver Lining: Falling Asset Values and Declining Interest Rates Can Create Gift and Estate Tax Windfalls, October 29, 2008
The Tax Relief Act of 2010: Key Business and Individual Income Tax Provisions and Incentives, February 2011
The Tax Relief Act of 2010: Key Business and Individual Income Tax Provisions and Incentives, December 2010
The Third Time's The Charm – IRS Announces Third Opportunity For Voluntary Disclosure Of Offshore Accounts, January 10, 2012
When the Best Advice is "Get Out", December 2006
Bar Admission
New York, 1991
New Jersey, 1990
Education
Stanford Law School (J.D. , 1990 ), Moot Court Board, 1989
Harvard University (B.A. , 1987 ), magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
