Can the terms of a Will be changed to make them \u201cfair\u201d?\u00a0 Let\u2019s say that a parent has died.\u00a0 Under the terms of the parent\u2019s Will, one of four children is disinherited.\u00a0 The child and parent did not get along, and, for good reason.\u00a0 The parent was a bit unreasonable in the eyes of all four children.\u00a0 Are they stuck with the terms of the Will?\u00a0 Is the one child out of luck?\u00a0 Maybe not.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong>An Executor is duty bound, by law, to carry out the terms of the Will.\u00a0 As a fiduciary, the Executor has control over the assets of the estate, paying off creditors, and is obligated to distribute assets as stated in the Will.\u00a0 An Executor does not have the legal authority to change any terms of the Will, simply by being the Executor.\u00a0 More is required.<\/p>\n In New Jersey, if all of the \u201csuccessors\u201d agree to a different distribution of the estate than what is stated in the Will, the Executor is bound to follow the new agreement.\u00a0 NJSA 3B:23-9.\u00a0 Returning to our story, above, if all of the children agree that it is not fair that one child be disinherited, all of the children can sign an agreement, perhaps giving all four children an equal share in the estate, despite the terms of the Will.\u00a0 This agreement is called an \u201cAgreement Among Heirs\u201d.<\/p>\n Note that the agreement can only cover the distribution of the \u201cnet\u201d estate: what the beneficiaries get.\u00a0 An Executor must still pay the proper taxes and pay creditors. No agreement can change this requirement. An Agreement Among Heirs can also be done where there is no Last Will.\u00a0 If there is no Will, then the estate is distributed to the people named under the Intestacy Statute.\u00a0 This outcome can be changed by an agreement.<\/p>\n Do I Need an Attorney?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know\u201d.\u00a0 It is a rare estate that has no issues beyond the \u201cordinary\u201d probate.\u00a0 An experienced professional knows the answers to your questions and how to act on them for your benefit.\u00a0 Did you know that the Will can be changed?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Can the terms of a Will be changed to make them \u201cfair\u201d?\u00a0 Let\u2019s say that a parent has died.\u00a0 Under the terms of the parent\u2019s Will, one of four children is disinherited.\u00a0 The child and parent did not get along, and, for good reason.\u00a0 The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[228,24,3007],"tags":[933,932,219,931,51,54,936,66,818,92,123,934,935],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15381,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12688\/revisions\/15381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What if the Beneficiaries Agree?<\/u><\/strong><\/h4>\n
Death and Taxes\u2026.<\/u><\/strong><\/h4>\n