Estate Administration Tales – Part 5
In my blog post last week, I told you about the last piece of information that Daughter provided me. There was an account in Dad’s name that she said was not really his. That’s because he was “holding” the money for his friend. As I explained last week, because there was no written
Estate Administration Tales – Part 4
In my blog post this week I continue to tell you about a call we received concerning a dad who died without a will leaving a surviving spouse and 3 daughters from two marriages. I explained in previous posts that not everything passes to the surviving spouse under New Jersey intestacy
Estate Administration Tales – Part 3
In my blog post last week, I was telling you about a call we received from Daughter concerning estate administration for her dad who died without a will. Her mom was the surviving spouse but her dad had 3 children, one from a previous marriage. I explained last week that because Dad
Estate Administration Tales – Part 2
In my blog post last week, I explained that we often get calls from family members of a loved one after they pass away in which the family explains what the decedent (person who died) wanted with respect to the distribution of their estate. Without a written document, however, the law
Estate Administration Tales – Part 1
When we get calls to our office about the passing of a family member, more often than not the decedent (person who died) did not leave any written instructions as to how to distribute their assets and handle their affairs. In other instances the decedent left instructions but not in a
How Death Taxes Get Paid – Part 3
I ended last week’s blog post with a hypothetical estate left by John Doe. John died with an estate totaling $2,500,000. Because he had no spouse or children, he left his estate to nieces, nephews and friend, all Class D heirs. What they receive is subject to New Jersey inheritance tax at a
Your Payable on Death Beneficiary Just May Surprise You (Part 1)
I have posted many times on this blog about the reasons why you should have a will. I have also written about certain types of assets that are not controlled by a last will. One such type is contract property, which is any account that has a payable upon death (POD) designation
How to Leave Personal Property (Part 3)
How to Leave Personal Property (Part 3) In this 3rd blog post on this topic I continue a discussion about how to leave personal property when one passes away. Last week I explained that when clients sign their wills, we also give them a personal property memorandum that they can complete at
Adding a Child’s Name to Parent’s Account – Part 3
In this third blog post of three, I continue discussing the pros and cons of adding a child as an additional owner of a parent’s account. As I explained last week, if Mom adds one child as co-owner but has 3 children amongst whom she wants to split everything evenly when
Is a Damaged Will an Invalid Will? Part 3
In this third post of three, I finish our discussion concerning a recent call we received from Son who discovered that Dad’s will had been accidentally damaged while in Son’s possession. Son had said that one of the Surrogate employees he spoke with told him he had to proceed as if