Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey

My condolences for your loss. I am assuming that your sister resided in NJ when she passed away. You did not mention if your sister had any children or what the terms of her Will were. I am assuming for this question that you were a beneficiary under the Will. Generally, an estate is distributed after 9 months. If the beneficiaries were siblings, then inheritance tax would be due. Whether this is paid by the estate or by the beneficiary depends on what the Will says. The attorney may be waiting for the inheritance tax return to be accepted. Although for a small estate, 20 months does seem like a long time. Most estates are settled with an informal accounting rather than a formal accounting. The attorney will provide an informal accounting to you for examination and ask that you sign what is called a Release and Refunding Bond. If you are not satisfied with the informal accounting, then you would not sign and you would ask for more information until you were satisfied. If you are concerned about the time it is taking to receive your inheritance, I suggest that you ask the attorney more specifically exactly what has been done. You can consider retaining your own attorney to communicate with the estate's attorney and to help you to examine the informal accounting when it is received.