Megan Cannella

Megan E. Cannella is a Principal at Bressler, Amery & Ross and co-chairs the firm’s Private Client Group. Meg focuses her practice on guiding individuals and families through the legal aspects of life’s transitions. She has extensive experience in estate planning, estate and trust administration and litigation, business succession planning, and charitable planning. Additionally, she has earned the Accredited Estate Planner® (AEP®) designation, awarded and administered by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils.

Estate Planning: As a Principal in Bressler’s Private Client practice, Meg helps her clients transfer assets to the next generation while keeping their personal and tax-saving goals in mind. She assesses complex federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax issues and manages income tax planning for trusts and estates. Meg regularly prepares sophisticated wills, durable powers of attorney, and advance directives for health care. She drafts various trusts, including: living trusts and insurance trusts, grantor-retained annuity trusts, Delaware trusts, special needs trusts, charitable trusts, qualified domestic trusts, asset protection trusts, and qualified personal residence trusts, among others.

Administration for High-Net-Worth Clients: On the administration side, Meg helps clients efficiently navigate the probate system. She counsels executors, administrators, trustees and beneficiaries on the administration and taxation of estates and trusts. She represents beneficiaries in will contests, construction of wills and trusts, approvals of accountings, undue influence actions, and other probate actions.

Prenuptial Agreements: Meg helps clients integrate marital planning with their broader estate planning objectives. She counsels individuals contemplating marriage on the use of prenuptial agreements to safeguard family wealth, preserve separate property, and align expectations regarding spousal rights in the event of death or divorce. Complementing her estate planning strategies, Meg drafts agreements that address the disposition of trusts and future inheritances and the governance of closely held business and family-office interests. By incorporating prenuptial agreements into a broader estate plan, she helps families balance personal objectives, privacy considerations, and long-term tax and asset-protection goals.

Business Succession Planning: Meg advises many owners of closely held and family owned businesses in business succession planning, which can include the integration of next generations into the business, consideration of investment and charitable philosophies of the family, or an outright sale. She works closely with attorneys in Bressler’s related practice areas, including corporate, employment, and real estate law, to provide clients with an expert legal team for their business needs.

Charitable Planning: Philanthropy is also an important part of her clients’ planning. She assists clients in tax-efficient charitable giving and provides general representation to tax-exempt organizations, advising them on qualifications for tax-exempt status, governance best practices, and policies for financial and legal compliance.

Community Foundation of New Jersey – Legal, Wealth & Tax Advisory Network

Morris County Bar Association

Estate Planning Council of Northern New Jersey

New Jersey State Bar Association

New Jersey Women Lawyers Association