Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey

Re: mother's will not distributed by lawyer upon her death

That depends. If your brother had surviving children, they would take his half share and divide it between them. If your brother had no surviving children ("issue") then you would take the entire amount.

Have you contacted the trustee to determine why there has been a delay in the distribution?

Re: mother's will not distributed by lawyer upon her death

From what you describe, your father's Will (he died first) leaft a trust for the lifetime of your mother, then to be distributed to you and a brother, who died after your mother, but before the distribution of the trust. Depending upon the language of the trust, which I have not read, one of 2 results follow: (1) you and your brother's estate each receives 1/2 of the trust, or (2) if the trust had language that the ultimate recipients (you and your brother) had to survive some limited time period and your brother did not survive that period, you might get it all. In the first instance, since your brother died without a Will (what we call intestate) what happens to his share depends on what, if any, family he had at his death. If he had no spouse or children, you appear to be his closest living relative, so you might get everything anyway, 1/2 from the trust and 1/2 as your bother's closest living relative. I would need to see the document creating the original trust to give you more information.

Re: mother's will not distributed by lawyer upon her death

I have read the other attorney's reply to you. There is much more information needed to really answer your questions, but I note that you have said that the trustee is not acting quickly to distribute the trust. I suggest that you bring all of the documents to an attorney reasonably near you, who practices more than half of his/her time in the field of estates and trusts. You should realize that many trustees get a fee from the trusts they handle, and terminating the trust will cut off those recurring fees. You may want to get a clear view of all the facts, and all of the options. You may be fighting the trustee, to some extent.

I practice, among other things, in estate litigation; my partner spends a great deal of his time on estate administration. We are in northern NJ; let me know if we can assist.