Pidgeon & Pidgeon, P.C.

Focus and practice areas

The firm has served clients from Princeton, New Jersey since 1978, by its own account. Its work covers five areas: estate planning, probate and estate administration, municipal law, zoning and planning, and real estate. These areas overlap in daily practice, because a single estate can involve a house, a will, and a question of local land use at once. Two shareholders carry all of it from one office.

Estate planning is the area the firm describes in the most depth, and it has a named practice head. The estate planning work also extends to residents of Pennsylvania, so that service reaches across the state line. Probate and estate administration follows from the planning work, since the firm that drafts a will can later steer the estate through the county surrogate's office.

The two shareholders

John R. Pidgeon and Mary Ann Pidgeon both hold shareholder status, which places ownership with the two lawyers whose name the firm carries. The P.C. in that name marks a professional corporation, a structure many law firms use to keep ownership among their lawyers. Mary Ann Kenny Pidgeon earned an LL.M. in Taxation from the Villanova University School of Law. An LL.M. in Taxation is a further year of graduate study past the standard law degree, built around tax rules, and it maps onto the estate work she leads.

The firm credits Mary Ann Kenny Pidgeon with decades of experience in estate planning and estate administration. She heads the estate planning practice, so the firm's most detailed area of work runs through the shareholder who holds the tax credential. As a reviewer, I read the shared surname and shared ownership as marks of a closely held firm, run by the two shareholders themselves.

Inside the estate planning practice

Wills sit at the center of the estate planning work, and the firm prepares several document types around them. The named services include testamentary trusts for minor children, marital trusts, living wills, and durable powers of attorney. Each document does a distinct job within a plan. Estate plans commonly need updates over time, after a marriage or the birth of a child, and a will can be revised or replaced while its author is still living.

A will directs who receives property and names an executor to carry that out. A testamentary trust takes effect through the will and can hold a child's inheritance until a chosen age, and a trustee manages it until then. A marital trust holds assets for a surviving spouse and can shape how those assets pass afterward. A living will records a person's wishes for medical care, and a durable power of attorney lets a named agent handle money matters if the signer loses the capacity to act.

Tax review runs through the planning. The firm examines federal and state estate taxes and inheritance taxes when it builds a plan, and New Jersey's inheritance tax depends on how closely each heir was related to the person who died. The firm also advises on the choice of executors, trustees, and guardians, the people who settle the estate, run any trust, and raise minor children. Mary Ann Kenny Pidgeon's tax LL.M. connects straight to this side of the firm's work.

Probate and estate administration

Estate administration starts after a death, once there is a will to carry out. In New Jersey, the named executor files the will with the county surrogate and receives letters that confirm authority to act for the estate. The executor then inventories the assets, notifies heirs and creditors, pays valid debts and any tax due, and distributes the balance under the will's terms. Estate administration can take months, since creditors receive a window to bring claims and some assets take time to value or sell. The firm that drafted the plan can guide the same estate through these steps, because it already knows the structure behind the documents.

Real estate, zoning, and municipal work

A real estate closing and a zoning application can turn on the same parcel of land, and the firm handles both from its Princeton office. A residential real estate matter often moves through a signed contract, an attorney review window, a title search, and a closing where the deed and the funds change hands. In New Jersey, a standard residential contract includes a short attorney review period, during which either side's lawyer can cancel or change the agreement before it becomes final. Title review confirms that the seller can convey clear ownership and flags any liens or easements on record.

Zoning and planning questions usually go before a municipal board. An owner who wants to use or build on land against the current rules applies for a variance, and a zoning or planning board holds a public hearing, with notice to nearby owners, before it rules. Bulk variances deal with setbacks and lot dimensions, while use variances deal with the kind of activity a site allows. A planning board generally handles site plans and subdivisions, while a board of adjustment hears variance requests, and the two bodies can overlap in smaller towns.

Municipal law, the fifth listed area, covers the ordinances, approvals, and board procedures that local government runs. A property owner may need counsel at a council meeting, a board of adjustment hearing, or a review of a local ordinance. Municipal work of this type often runs on a public calendar, since boards and councils meet on set dates and post agendas in advance. For a client whose plans depend on local approvals, one office that holds both property and zoning counsel keeps the whole file with a single team.

What the record shows

Continuity is the clearest thread in what the firm publishes. A start date of 1978 puts more than four decades of work behind the name, and the same two shareholders hold it today. A client can look at a long run of practice under one banner.

The firm keeps its public claims specific: two attorneys, five practice areas, an office in Princeton, and a tax credential behind the estate work. In my opinion, that specificity helps a prospective client, because each point traces back to the firm's own pages. A reader can see the two shareholders, the five listed practice areas, and the LL.M. in Taxation behind the estate planning, all set out on the firm's own site.