Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey

Re: Wills

After a person dies, the Executor takes the Will to the Office of the Surrogate in the decedent's county of domicile at the time of death. Once the Will is found to conform to the requirements of the statute about witnesses, etc., it is admitted to Probate and at that point it does become a public record available to anyone who wishes to inspect it.

If you are thinking about a Will of someone who is still alive, until recently, the answer was "No." However, in 2005 the Will Registry Act was passed. The following was taken directly from the website of the NJ Secretary of State:

Will Registry Program

As directed by the Legislature (N.J.S.A. 3.B:3-2.1(d), effective September 2005), the Office of the Secretary of State maintains a Will Registry wherein a testator, (the person making the will) or his/her attorney, may register with the Will Registry Program which contains basic information about the will. Registration is entirely voluntary and electing not to register with the Office of the Secretary of State does not have any effect on the validity of the will.

The fee to file a Will Registry Form is $10.00.

The fee for retrieval of a Will Registry Form is $10.00.

Please send a check or money order made payable to �The State of New Jersey�

to:

The Office of the Secretary of State

PO Box 300

Trenton, NJ 08625 - 0300

To promote privacy, only "interested persons" as defined in N.J.S.A. 3.B:3-2.1(d), or their representatives, may search the Will Registry and only executors or fiduciaries will be given the location of the will.

All forms pertaining to the Will Registry Program are located below.

N.J.S.A. 3.B:3-2.1(d) - �interested persons� means children, spouses, potential heirs, devisees, fiduciaries, creditors, beneficiaries and any others having a property right in or claim against a trust estate or the estate of a descendent which may be affected by the proceeding.

Re: Wills

Except in rare instances, Wills are public documents. A visit to the Surrogate's office in the County where the Will was probated should enable you to see a copy (usually in the Surrogate's Vault room). For a small fee it can be photocopied as well.

Re: Wills

Once a will is probated, it is public. You need to go to the Surrogate court in the county where the person who died lived. If no will was probated, the estate cannot be disbursed.