Jay D. Waxenberg

Jay Waxenberg has been with the Personal Planning Department since 1984 and is co-Chair of the Department. A member of the firm’s Executive Committee, he focuses his practice on estate and tax planning and estate and trust administration.

Jay primarily represents individuals and their estates. He represents many families with significant multigenerational wealth, and has assisted them in the structuring of their estate plans so as to minimize gift, estate and generation-skipping taxes in the transmission of their wealth through several generations. He is involved in the full range of his clients’ economic and personal concerns, including closely held businesses, commercial and residential real estate holdings, artistic collections and philanthropy. In particular, Jay has helped his clients structure new business ventures, restructure existing ventures with an emphasis on shifting appreciation potential to younger generations, and has guided the sale and liquidation of businesses. He also has structured plans to enable client’s businesses to remain intact at their death, and to insure the desired continuity of ownership and control.

In addition to the tax consequences of estate planning, Jay focuses on the potentially sensitive family dynamics involved in representing individuals. He has the ability to explain complex tax matters in an understandable manner so that clients can make informed decisions about their assets. 

Jay has extensive experience in the area of life insurance planning. He frequently counsels individual clients and corporations concerning insurance policies and split-dollar arrangements.

As a member of our Fiduciary Litigation Group, Jay has been involved in will contests and other estate- and trust-related litigations. In addition, he has handled family matters, such as the preparation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. He regularly counsels individuals concerning charitable giving and advises private foundations and public charities on tax issues.

Before joining Proskauer, Jay was with United States Trust Company of New York and was a member of the Editorial Board of Practical Drafting, a quarterly estate planning journal. He regularly publishes articles on estate planning matters of interest.

Jay regularly speaks to professionals on estate planning. He has lectured on will drafting and estate tax audits for the New York State Bar Association, taught a course entitled "Estate Planning: Beyond the Basics" as part of the continuing legal education program of Fordham University School of Law, and has been a member of the faculty at Practising Law Institute programs entitled "Understanding Estate Administration in New York," "Understanding Estate, Gift and Generation-Skipping Transfer Taxes" and "Basic Estate Planning." He also has lectured on trust contests for the Archdiocese of New York and various estate planning topics for United States Trust Company, Bank of New York, HSBC Private Bank and Tiger 21.