Probate Lawyers
If a person living or possessing one or more properties or real estate in New Jersey dies with only a last will or testament, it must first be tried in a Surrogate Court in New Jersey before the properties can be disposed of or transferred to beneficiaries. The executor of the will named by the decedent in the will be responsible for initiating the probate.
Probate typically takes less than 10 months to resolve, but when problems occur, such as will appeal, family members dispute the executor’s acts, probate generally is very lengthy, expensive, and complicated. Our Probate lawyers are professional New Jersey lawyers, providing personal advice you, to executors of Wills and estate administrators to mitigate probate-related difficulties.
As an executor, you’d want to have the legal guidance of a probate lawyer to effectively carry out your fiduciary duties.
Functions of a fiduciary in New Jersey
The decedent appoints a will executor. If the will is null or there is no will at all, the New Jersey probate court appoints an executor. Executors, administrators and trustees are sometimes called fiduciaries. The following are the functions of:
- At the death of the testator, the executor should file a petition to the Surrogate’s Court to begin probate as soon as possible.
- The executor has the power of liquidating all estate assets of the decedent. He should consider hiring accounting professionals who will assist him in taking inventory of all estate assets and valuate them before liquidation.
- He should open a fresh bank account where all the liquidated funds will be kept.
- The executor should also work with a probate lawyer in New Jersey and tax advisers in determining all estate taxes owed by the estate.
- He’ll have to collect all income, dividends and interests, etc., into the estate checking account he created.
- The executor must make crucial decisions on what to do about the deceased’s other personal assets. If the will has clear legacies concerning these properties, he will behave accordingly. When there are no clear legacies, it is his duty to determine whether to transfer, lease or sell them to the beneficiaries. Yet in doing so, he must behave reasonably in the best interests of the estate and creditors to prevent unnecessary conflicts.
- He has to decide what to do with the residential house of the decedent, whether to sell or put in on lease, or make repairs. Whatever expenses incurred will be settled from the estate account, and whatever earnings realized from the sale of it will also go to the account. However, any tenants residing in the real estate of the deceased will have to evacuate, as such estate will go to the beneficiary. While having the fiduciary authority to make these decisions, he has to consider not his own interests but what’s best for the beneficiaries and the estate itself. As this is a part of probate, the probate lawyers 07653 have years of experience handling these matters in New Jersey, and have come to know the most likely consequences of every decision or step taken. It is better, as an executor, that you consult a probate lawyer.
- The executor have to put a notice out for all creditors of the estate. Creditors will come (even thieves) and it is left for the executor to determine if actually they are true creditors before payment is made. Here, the executor would also need to work with a probate lawyers.
- Once all the following have been done successfully, the executor has to distribute the remaining estate property and funds from the account to the beneficiaries according to the dictates of the will or the intestacy laws of New Jersey (if there is no valid will). In New Jersey, an estate must remain open for 7 months before distribution is done.
Probate lawyers Offers assistance to fiduciaries
Whether you are an executor of a Will, trustee or administrator of an estate, the probate lawyers New Jersey are here to assist you carry out your fiduciary roles and estate administration, providing you with effective and knowledgeable probate law representation in New Jersey. The probate lawyers can also guide you through documenting and writing your estate plans. Contact a probate lawyer 07653 today.
