Renée Goldman Schwartz was born and raised in Westchester County, NY and is admitted to practice in New York State, the State of Connecticut and the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. She has a B.A. in Psychology from Lehigh University (1988), a Juris Doctor from Widener Law Commonwealth (1992) and an LL.M. in Elder Law and Estate Planning from Western New England University School of Law (2015). 

Renée grew up in Yorktown Heights, New York along with her younger brother, Andrew, who has intellectual and developmental disabilities.  As an adult, she and her husband, David raised their two daughters in West Hartford, Connecticut.  In 2013, Renée returned to law school to study elder law and estate planning out of her personal interest in learning more about how to best protect the interests of her brother as well as her mother. Two years later, Renée earned her legal masters in these specialties.

Learning what an amazing job her parents did planning for themselves and Andrew, seeing the growing need in this area, and realizing the severe lack of attorneys with the specialized knowledge to assist other families, Renée created Goldman Schwartz, LLC, in 2016, a boutique elder law and estate planning practice with an emphasis on helping seniors, individuals with disabilities, and their families.

Renée continues to expand her knowledge by actively participating on the Special Needs Planning Committee of the New York State Bar Association's Elder Law and Special Needs Planning Section, acting as General Counsel to Pendennis, Inc. (a not for profit organization working on creating non-certified group homes in New York State), and participating as an active member of the following:  the New York State Bar Association's Trust and Estates Section, the Connecticut Bar Association, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Academy of Special Needs Planners, ElderCounsel, and Wealth Counsel.  In 2019, Renee received her certification as a Work Incentive Benefit Practitioner through the Yang Tan Institute at Cornell University's ILR School and most recently, her Housing Navigation certification, in 2021, through the NY Alliance and New York Housing Resource Center.

Additionally, Renée serves at large on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Association for Community Living in West Hartford, CT, which assists people with developmental disabilities to participate in community life.  She also serves as an officer on the Board of Directors of Tisbury, LLC, an organization which partially owns  and manages the group home in Ossining, NY where her brother has continued to live for more than 20 years.

Renée and David eventually moved back to New York in 2019, in order to be closer to her mother, Andrew, and the rest of her family. The firm continues to operate offices in both Connecticut and New York.  Today, Andrew volunteers his time several hours a week performing administrative tasks for the firm in its New York office, and he, Renée and David enjoy having lunch together there weekly.

Firm Description

At Goldman Schwartz, LLC we are a boutique law firm that specializes in creating custom estate plans based upon your unique needs.  There are many "Do-It-Yourself" drafting kits and software available out there.  In today's world, you do not need an attorney to draft a Last Will and Testament.  What we do is different, because we understand what the vast amount of legal provisions in this area mean and when and why you should include them, or not.  By investing the time to learn about you, your concerns, and your objectives, we use our estate planning. elder law and special needs planning knowledge, skills and experience to work on building a plan centered around you and your goals.  But we do not stop there.  Your documents are only useful if you and your fiduciaries understand how they work and how to utilize them for your benefit.  At Goldman Schwartz, LLC we invest our time in you, which includes not only designing your custom estate plan, but also working with you to ensure you understand the mechanics of your plan and how to fund any trusts that may be a part of that plan. Our goal here at Goldman Schwartz, LLC is not to draft documents, but rather to use our talents to build professional relationships with our client families that last for generations. 

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