{"id":12880,"date":"2018-02-28T14:34:01","date_gmt":"2018-02-28T18:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/?p=12880"},"modified":"2020-04-21T15:16:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-21T19:16:25","slug":"need-will-dont-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/need-will-dont-anything\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do I Need A Will? I Don’t Own Anything….."},"content":{"rendered":"

A Last Will and Testament, if properly drafted, indicates how you would like your assets distributed to your heirs, appoints an Executor to carry out your wishes, and should indicate who has authority over the disposition of your remains.\u00a0 In New Jersey, it can be probated in less than a half hour, and, usually, for under one hundred and fifty dollars. Does this sound reasonable?\u00a0 Try handling an estate without a Will.<\/p>\n

No Will?\u00a0 Here\u2019s What Happens<\/u><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Last Will & Testament is the best option<\/p><\/div>\n

If you die without a Will, the New Jersey Intestate Statute directs how your assets will be distributed, and who will act as administrator, (https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/new-jersey\/2009\/title-3b\/section-3b-5\/<\/a>).\u00a0 A bond will have to be posted by the administrator, which is an insurance policy protecting the heirs against theft and misappropriation.\u00a0 This will have to be paid by the estate, annually, until the process is completed.<\/p>\n

No Will? Who Becomes the Administrator?<\/u><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Because you have no Will stating who your Executor will be, the law says it will be your spouse, or domestic partner.\u00a0 If you have no spouse or domestic partner, or if they do not wish to be administrator, then one or all of your children can be appointed.\u00a0 If there are no children, then anyone else who is an heir under the statute, such as a parent, brother or sister, or cousins can apply.\u00a0 If no one applies within forty days to be administrator, the law allows any \u201cfit person applying therefore\u201d. \u00a0Sound easy?\u00a0 It\u2019s not.\u00a0 If more than one person is able to be the administrator, you must first get the others to sign papers indicating that they are renouncing their right to be administrator.\u00a0 Then you must go to the County Surrogate\u2019s office and apply.\u00a0 If you are accepted, you will have to post a bond before being \u201cqualified\u201d or officially named as administrator. There are many things that can go wrong in this process.<\/p>\n

No Will? Who Gets the Estate?<\/u><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Because you have no Will stating how your estate is to be divided, the intestacy statute controls.\u00a0 If your spouse or domestic partner survives you, the spouse will receive the entire estate if there are no surviving children or parent of the deceased. If there is a surviving parent, the spouse gets \u201cthe first 25% of the intestate estate, but no less than $50,000.00, nor more than $200,000.00, plus three-fourths of any balance of the intestate estate.\u201d But if all of the surviving children are children of the surviving spouse, and the surviving spouse has children who are not children of the deceased, the surviving spouse gets \u201cthe first 25% of the intestate estate, but no less than $50,000.00 nor more than $200,000.00, plus one-half of the balance of the intestate estate.\u201d The same amount will be inherited by the surviving spouse if the deceased had a child or children who are not children of the surviving spouse.\u00a0 All of this, as well as who inherits if there is no surviving spouse, is set forth at N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3 and 5-4.\u00a0 I can safely say, that in thirty-three years of practice, no one has asked me to write a Will which says the same thing as this statute<\/em>.\u00a0 If your estate is distributed by statute, there will be disappointment and hard feelings among your family members.<\/p>\n

No Will? \u201cIt\u2019s Ok, Because I Really Don\u2019t Own Anything.\u201d<\/u><\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t own anything\u201d but\u2026 a car, a small bank account, a house.\u00a0 I know of no one who really doesn\u2019t own anything<\/em>. It may be small, but it will have to be dealt with by someone.\u00a0 Someone is going to have to pay for your funeral, last medical bills, sell the car, etc. If you do not have a Will, someone will have to go through the long process, post a bond, become administrator or co-administrator. Someone<\/em> will have to have the legal authority to act on your behalf and handle that \u201clittle\u201d matter.\u00a0 It would be better if you just had a Last Will appointing an Executor, with no bond, who could handle the matter quickly and easily.<\/p>\n

Do the Responsible Thing and Prepare a Will<\/u><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Prepare a Last Will.\u00a0 Appoint an Executor.\u00a0 State how you want your assets to be distributed.\u00a0 It will take you less time and money to prepare a Will, than for your family to seek appointment as an administrator, post a bond and deal with family strife.\u00a0 It is easier than you think.\u00a0 Law Offices of Robert J. Shanahan, Jr. has years of experience.\u00a0 We have a streamlined process that makes it not only easy for our clients, but gives them the personalized document they need.\u00a0 Contact us now so we can get started.\u00a0 I\u2019ll have you out of my office in forty-five minutes, and you will say, \u201cWow, you made that easy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Last Will and Testament, if properly drafted, indicates how you would like your assets distributed to your heirs, appoints an Executor to carry out your wishes, and should indicate who has authority over the disposition of your remains.\u00a0 In New Jersey, it can be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[228,3007],"tags":[219,40,1412,92,1414,1413,123],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12880"}],"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=12880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}