Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey

Re: did my father have a will

If your father had a will, it has to be probated in the county he lived in. You should go to the Probate Office and inquire if a probate was opened. If he had any life insurance policies, those are not included in the probate and any beneficiaries will be contacted by the company. If you need any more info, please feel free to email me at [email protected].

Re: did my father have a will

First, sorry for your loss. I agree and disagree with Ana, so here goes. If your father had a Will, it cannot be probated before 10 days have passed from his date of death. If he had no Will, the Wife can apply to be appointed Administratrix of his estate, again not before 10 days have passed. You can periodically check with the Surrogate in the County where he lived at the time of his death to see what, if anything has happened. You need to understand that "probate" only applies to assets registered in your father's name alone. Probate does not apply to any asset registered jointly with someone else (like his Wife), any asset that has a beneficiary designation (like a bank account registered POD, any retirement plans or similar assets) or any asset that he named a beneficiary to receive (like an insurance policy with a designated beneficiary). Assets not covered by probate are hard to ascertain if you do not know what they were or where they are located. If there was an insurance policy, if you have no information, you need to rely upon the estate representative to inform you. You are facing a not so unusual situation, where the parent has remarried and has a long marriage. In this type of situation it is not unusual for the parent to provide for the new spouse and, deliberately or inadvertently, exclude or forget about children from the prior marriage. Thus, it is possible that things your father had done years ago have changed. I hope your relationship with his new wife is cordial enough that she will inform you of any assets in which the children or grandchildren have an interest. If the relationship is strained, you might never get the full information. If you would like to talk about this, contact me directly.