New Jersey living trusts & estate documents

Living trust law in New Jersey

A revocable living trust holds your home, accounts, and other property during your life — you stay in full control as trustee and can change or revoke it any time — then passes it to your beneficiaries without probate when you're gone. In New Jersey, trusts are governed by the New Jersey Uniform Trust Code, N.J.S.A. 3B:31.

Avoiding probate in New Jersey

Probate in New Jersey is governed by the N.J.S.A. Title 3B and handled by the county Surrogate's Court, with contested matters heard in the Superior Court's Probate Part. Probate through the county Surrogate is largely unsupervised.

Affidavit in lieu of administration: up to $50,000 to a surviving spouse/partner, or $20,000 to other heirs. That simplified procedure is set out in Affidavit procedures, N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3 and 3B:10-4. A funded living trust passes outside probate entirely, whatever the size of the estate — which is why New Jersey homeowners in particular set one up.

Estate and inheritance tax in New Jersey

New Jersey has an inheritance tax — a tax on what each beneficiary receives, usually scaled to how closely related they were to you: New Jersey repealed its estate tax (2018) but retains an inheritance tax for non-Class-A beneficiaries. The separate federal estate tax reaches only estates above $15 million per person (2026, adjusted yearly), so most families never owe it.

Protecting a surviving spouse in New Jersey

New Jersey also sets aside a discretionary family allowance for support from estate income for a surviving spouse and minor children (N.J. Stat. § 3B:3-30), protected ahead of most creditors.

Signing your New Jersey documents

1. Sign the living trust. Executed and acknowledged before a notary.
2. Sign the will. Two witnesses; notarized self-proving affidavit included (standalone and pour-over wills).
3. Sign the power of attorney. Sign your Durable Power of Attorney before a Notary Public.
4. Sign the health care documents. Sign your Advance Health Care Directive in the presence of two adult witnesses and before a Notary Public, as the form’s execution block provides.
5. Follow your package instructions. Your package includes page-by-page signing instructions written for New Jersey — follow those as the authoritative guide.

Serving all of New Jersey

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