Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey
Letter of Opinion
My father was a resident of Mercer County, New Jersey. His estate there has been completely probated without any problems. For the last seven years he lived about half the year in New Jersey and half the year in Jerusalem Israel. At the advice of an Israeli council he wrote a separate will on his apartment here. The probate of this will is slightly complicated by the fact that he was not a citizen of Israel. According to my lawyer here, the easiest and cheapest way around the problem is to present a letter of opinion by a New Jersey lawyer as follows:
I, the undersigned, Mr._______ am registered in the Bar of the following states in the USA: ______ My practice includes the execution of probate as well as in testate proceedings.
Pursuant to the laws of the State of New Jersey, DB, who resided half the year in Israel and half the year in the United States was entitled to write a will in the State of Israel regarding the disposition of his assets in Israel. The execution of this will regarding the disposition of his real property in Israel according to the laws of the State of Israel is therefore a legal act.
Respectfully,
Signature
Is it possible for you to write such a letter, and how much would it cost?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Letter of Opinion
An Attorney in the United Sates who wrote this letter would have to surrender his bar license(s) since it requires rendering an opinion on whetehr someone wass entitled to execute a will pursuant ti Israeli law. Your father's will in Mercer county, where he was a legal resident, controls the disposition of his property holdings outside of the United States in accordance with existing treaties. Feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss the partivculars of your father's probate matters; I will need to review both his NJ and Israeli will.
Re: Letter of Opinion
I agree with Raymond. I had a case recently where the decedent, a NJ resident, also owned property in another country. Most laws of foreign countries state that the Will in the USA, where the person was a citizen and resided, controls. A person cannot have two separate Wills (one for each country) and separate probates. The Executor appointed in the US may have to do ancillary probate in Israel to get authorization there to handle the Israeli assets. If you know where the property is located in Israel, I suggest contacting the Consulate in NYC to find out the procedures and who/where to make contact to do this. This is a response to an Internet question and the reply is not to be considered legal advice or as creating an attorney-client relationship.
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