Alan A. Davidson

Partner
201.649.8048 (Direct)
201.441.9056 (Main)

Services

Alan A. Davidson is a Partner in HDRB&B’s Trusts & Estates Department. A skilled and seasoned attorney, Alan specializes in tax, estate and business matters. Practicing in Bergen County for more than 40 years, Alan provides his clients with exceptional counsel and support across a wide range of practice areas including estate planning and administration, individual and corporate tax planning, business agreements (including stockholder, partnership and operating agreements, employment and deferred compensation agreements) and purchases and sales of closely-held businesses. Alan is adept at unraveling even the most complex probate and intestacy matters. His extraordinarily varied background in tax law and trusts & estates allow Alan to find creative solutions that protect his clients’ interests.

Prior to joining HDRB&B, Alan was the Managing Member at Davidson, Sochor, Ragsdale & Cohen, LLC in Elmwood Park and owned and managed his own tax, trusts & estates firm, Alan A. Davidson, P.A.

Alan is a long standing member of the Bergen County and Northern New Jersey Estate Planning Councils and a member and past president of the Greater New Jersey Estate Planning Council (“GNJEPC). He is a frequent lecturer on estate, business and tax matters to both professional and lay organizations. He presents annually to attorneys, CPAs, insurance and other financial service professionals at the GNJEPC on the topic of “What’s Hot and What’s Not in Estate, Business & Elder Law Planning.” Additionally, Alan has been awarded the Accredited Estate Planner® Designation from the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils.

Alan has authored several publications including “Using QTIP Trusts in Planning Elective Share Bequests,” which was published in the New Jersey Law Journal. Additionally, Alan co-authored “Sophisticated Estate Planning: Using the Tax Laws to Your Client’s Advantage” published for the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (“ICLE”).

Alan graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics in 1971 from Rutgers University and received his law degree from Rutgers University in 1974. He was also awarded a Masters of Law in Taxation (LLM) from New York University in 1977.

Representative Matters

  • Represented client with a large real estate partnership portfolio. On behalf of client, we transferred a large percentage of his holdings into a trust, structured it as a “part-gift”, and “part-sale”, the consideration for the sale being a “private annuity”; and structured the gift element to minimize New Jersey Inheritance Taxes.
  • Prepared several “non-judicial” settlement agreements on behalf of client under the New Jersey Uniform Trust Code to modify or terminate existing “irrevocable” trusts where there were changes in family circumstances; this included having provisions modified for an after-born beneficiary with “special needs”, thus allowing the beneficiary to qualify for Medicaid and other need-based benefits.
  • Prepared several “non-judicial” settlement agreements under the New Jersey Uniform Trust Code on behalf of client to modify or terminate existing “irrevocable” trusts where there was change in the tax laws that made the existing trusts unneeded under current law.
  • Successfully petitioned the Probate Part of the Superior Court on behalf of client for permission to have intestate assets otherwise passing to minors to be transferred into Court-approved trusts for their benefit; and to permit the minors’ surviving parent, as Guardian, to renounce (disclaim) insurance benefits into the estate and be added to the Court-approved trusts.
  • Assisted client with “removal and replacement” of the original corporate Trustee of an old irrevocable Trust with a new corporate Trustee that would be more receptive to client’s needs.

Professional Affiliations

  • Bergen County Estate Planning Council, Member
  • Northern New Jersey Estate Planning Council, Member
  • Greater New Jersey Estate Planning Council
    • Member
    • Past President
  • Accredited Estate Planner® Designation, National Association of Estate Planners & Councils

Honors & Awards

  • Listed in Super Lawyers®, Trusts & Estates, 2019 – 2023

Publications

  • Co-Author, “Sophisticated Estate Planning: Using the Tax Law to Your Client’s Advantage,” ICLE, 1999
  • Co-Author, “Sophisticated Estate Planning: Using the Tax Law to Your Client’s Advantage,” ICLE, 1998
  • “Using Q-Tip Trusts in Planning Elective Share Bequests,” New Jersey Law Journal, December 24, 1981

Prior Experience

  • Davidson, Sochor, Ragsdale & Cohen, LLC, Managing Member, 2009 – 2023
  • Alan A. Davidson, P.A., Sole Director and Shareholder, 2003 – 2008
  • Tax Partner, Kleeblatt, Galler, Abramson, Zakim & Davidson, LLC, 1998 – 2002
  • Tax Partner, Hein, Smith, Berezin, Maloof, Davidson & Jacobs, LLC, 1980 – 1998
  • Estate Planning Consultant, New York Life Insurance Company, 1978 – 1980

Admitted to Practice

  • State of New Jersey, 1974
  • United States Tax Court, 1975

Education

  • New York University School of Law, L.L.M. Taxation, 1977
  • Rutgers University Law School, J. D. Honors, 1974
  • Rutgers University, A.B. Economics, 1971