NJ statutes define who is entitled to be appointed the Administrator of an estate where there is no Last Will. Generally, the family members …
Overview of the Legal Issue(s) Involving IRA’s and the New Jersey Inheritance Tax A distant family member dies and leaves a sizeable IRA to …
While New Jersey did away with its estate death tax in 2018, it still has an inheritance tax, although the number of estates that …
If an estate has debts greater than the value of Estate assets, cash, etc., the estate is known as insolvent. Insolvent Estates create competing …
The parents of a deceased cadet at the West Point Military Academy (“West Point”) who was scheduled to graduate last year was involved in …
New Jersey has laws that allow a spouse to bring legal action against those who remove their spouse from New Jersey. What can be …
Banks in New Jersey have a policy regarding access to a safe deposit box upon the death of the owner Knowing your Bank’s policy …
Judgments entered against a decedent have priority under New Jersey probate and estate administration laws. However, if the decedent dies before a judgment has …
An executor and beneficiary may agree to modify and change a signed Last Will or Trust NJ Law requires certain formalities be followed before …
There is no statute of limitations on a claim against a fiduciary by an estate beneficiary. If no release and refunding bond is filed …
When litigation is filed requesting an interpretation of a last will or a provision within a will, a party must realize that this type …
A Recent NJ Case Discusses When a Handwritten Note Can Be Probated as a Last Will Sometimes a handwritten letter or document can be …
NJ imposes an inheritance tax to non-exempt beneficiaries. A girlfriend of a deceased NJ resident is not an exempt beneficiary. How can the estate …
Understanding What a Self-Cancelling Note Means Under federal law “[t]he value of a gross estate shall include the value of all property to the …
In probate litigation, it is common for one or all sides to ask for reimbursement of their legal fees and the costs of prosecuting/defending …
An adult parent dies. It’s tragic. Now his or her estate needs to be probated and administered. The person was divorced at the time …
I recently read a series of posts about the title of this blog post. In all truth, I hadn’t really thought about it or …
A client’s dad was in a second marriage when he died recently. The couple did not have a prenuptial or post-nuptial agreement. Dad always …
A client’s father’s estate is in probate. His son is the personal representative. Dad’s will leaves everything to his two sons (brothers) to share …
If you have a living trust in place, why would a person need a will? The answer straightforward : You need a last will …
A client’s late mother and daughter were estranged for years, but she was still shocked to learn mom cut her out of her will …
Many banks have strict policies regarding accounts that are subject to probate. They demand that the surrogate court provide “letters testamentary” before they’ll release …
“Portability” (I’ll explain its definition later in the blog) allows the personal representative of an estate to preserve a deceased spouse’s unused federal estate …
A creditor of a deceased person is allowed to file a claim against an estate if his/her claim is timely filed with the surrogate’s …
When a person dies because of someone else’s intentional or negligent conduct, a lawsuit often follows: This type of legal claim is called a …
What if estate assets are insufficient to pay all the claims that need to be paid in full? What is the personal representative of …
Many individuals when faced with probating an estate are required to post a bond but few really understand what this means or what is …
In this case an action was filed by a funeral director against decedent’s representative, and others, to recover the balance of his bill for …
I get asked often how much time an estate fiduciary has to pay the bills of a decedent. The answer is generally straightforward but …
Sometimes deputes occur concerning who will administer an estate. In such cases, when there is a dispute the decision rests in the court’s discretion, …
