Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey

Re: Joint Tenancy

No.

Assets held jointly by husband and wife pass to the surviving spouse automaticly at the first death...these assets do not pass through probate under the Will.

Re: Joint Tenancy

Asssets pass to the "surviving joint tenant"; such assets pass outside the will, so the children are not entitled to the bequest notwithstanding the terms of the will.

Re: Joint Tenancy

Certain investments become inheritable outside of the Will. Jointly registered assets (stocks, bank accounts, real estate) are examples. The registration controls and supercedes the language of the Will. Certain other assets (like insurance policies, retirment accounts) have beneficiary designations, which also supercede the Will. I suspect that the husband had assets other than those with joint registrations or beneficiary designations, which he wanted to go exclusively to the children, so he merely made the Will state that all other assets were to only go the children. The real issue will be the value of the husband's estate (all assets, however registered) and how much of those assets go to the widow by registration or designation. NJ has a statute on this, so if the amount does not meet the statutary requirement, the widow can get more even if the Will says otherwise. Plus, you do not state if there are other circumstances that may come into play, such as a pre-marital agreement). There may be more facts that need to be reviewed.

Walter LeVine

Re: Joint Tenancy

Please be advised that I have not been retained to represent you and I am basing this response on the limited amount of information supplied. However, the simple answer to your question is that if property is held in joint tenenacy with a right of survivorship, then upon one of the joint tenant's death, the property automatically transfers to the other joint tenant. Therefore, there would be no right or claim to be made on the property by anyone else and the deceased joint tenenant had no right to trasfer the property to anyone else. Depending on the assets involved, it may not be quite as easy as explained, but that is the general rule of joint tenancy. If you wish to discuss this further, I can be reached at 908-537-7975.

Good Luck!