Legal Question in Family Law in New Jersey
divorce and wills
my parents recently announced that they are getting divorced. my dad has threatened to take everything from my mom and my two younger brothers, leaving them penniless. this is my question: two years ago my grandfather on my dad's side died leaving an estate of several hundred thousand dollars(or so my dad brags about anyway). neither myself, my siblings, nor my mother has had a chance to see the will. my dad insists that everything in the will is his. without telling any of us until recently, he has taken the money and deposited it in a seperate account from the joint one he shares with my mother and says none of us will ever see a penny of it. i have reason to believe that myself and my siblings may be entitled to something in the will but have no idea as to what my rights are. am i allowed to see the will myself? how do i go about that? since my dad says that he plans on taking everything from us, i just want to know if any of us are entitled to anything in the will. any amount of money would be extremely helpful in paying bills that my dad most likely will try to stick us with. what can i do?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: divorce and wills
When a spouse receives an inheritance in NJ, that inheritance is that spouse's alone, unless he commingles it or shares it. By putting the inheritance in a separate account, your father is doing precisely what the law dictates he should be doing to avoid losing the exempt status of the inheritance.
However, such inheritances are discoverable and relaevant to the exptent that the inheritance would provide your father with additional ability to pay for purposes of determining support.
Re: divorce and wills
The first thing you can do is avoid taking sides in your parent's divorce. This is especially true if you are a minor, or very young. Your parents will resolve matters with their lawyers. As to the will issue, if it has been probated, you can see it by calling the Surrogate of the county in which your grandfather resided at the time he died. If it was not probated, it should be and you may need to force your father's hand to do so. In any case, you should seek the assistance of a lawyer. Keep in mind that this advice is based purely on the little bit of information that you have given to me. There may be other factors that would change my opinion. Further, no one can rely on advice from an attorney who has not been retained. If you have not retained an attorney, before you take any action, you should contact an attorney (either me or someone else) to discuss your matter in more detail. Only then will you be able to rely on the advice. I will be happy to assist you. However, you need to call me at 856-546-8010. If you mention Law Guru, there will be no charge for your first consultation. Good luck! Rob Gleaner
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