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Assume the following scenario. Husband writes a Will omitting his current wife from inheriting any of his assets. The Will is controlled by New Jersey law. Can the husband get away this this? Absent a prenuptial agreement, the answer is no. By statute, a surviving spouse has a right to de...

This question often comes up during client meetings involving the administration of estates venued in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Probate. In situations where an estate has insufficient assets to cover all of the decedent's debts do creditors of the estate get pai...

When it comes to estate administration of individual decedents, their assets are typically divided into probate assets, which pass through the estate, and non-probate assets, which pass outside of the estate. Probate assets can include vehicles, real estate, bank and brokerage account...

In a published decision issued on March 28, 2018, the New Jersey Appellate Division held that a trial court may look beyond the plain language of a trust document that benefitted the settler's "grandchildren" to determine whether she intended to benefit only some of her grandchilren. In t...

Need to probate a will in Bergen County? The Bergen County Surrogate offers a step-by-step procedure explaining how to probate a will in Bergen County, New Jersey. Click here to download the publication. ...

In New Jersey the role of a guardian of an incapacitated person's estate is largely statutory. In re Guardianship of A.D.L., 208 N.J. Super. 618, 623 (App. Div. 1986). N.J.S.A. 3B:12-36 to -64 prescribe a guardian's powers to manage an incapacitated person's estate. See In re Keri, 18...