New Jersey Estate Planning: Wills, Trusts, and Probate

Estate planning in New Jersey is the process of putting legal documents in place that control what happens to your property, your health care, and your minor children if you become incapacitated or die. This reference explains the core documents New Jersey law recognizes, how a will is executed and proved, what the state does when there is no will, and how inheritance and estate taxes apply. Each specific procedure links to a detailed article below.

What estate planning covers in New Jersey

A plan addresses two distinct situations: incapacity during life and the transfer of property at death. During life, the concern is who manages money and makes medical decisions if a person can no longer do so. At death, the concern is who receives the property and who administers the estate.

Most plans answer four questions. Who inherits the property. Who serves as executor to gather assets, pay debts, and distribute what remains. Who acts as agent for finances and health care during any period of incapacity. And, for a parent of young children, who serves as guardian. New Jersey lets a parent name a guardian for a minor child directly in a will: N.J.S.A. 3B:3-1 allows any individual 18 or older and of sound mind both to make a will and to appoint a testamentary guardian.

The documents that follow are the building blocks. A person can use one or all of them, and the right combination depends on the size of the estate, family circumstances, and whether probate avoidance matters.

Key documents and terms

A will is the written document that names beneficiaries, an executor, and (if needed) a guardian for minor children. The person who makes it is the testator. A short amendment to an existing will is a codicil.

The executor is the person named in the will to administer the estate. When there is no will, the court appoints an administrator instead. Either receives letters from the county Surrogate, the document that proves authority to act for the estate.

A power of attorney names an agent (also called an attorney-in-fact) to handle financial matters. A durable power of attorney is written so that it survives the principal’s later incapacity, which is defined in N.J.S.A. 46:2B-8.2.

An advance directive for health care covers medical decisions. Under N.J.S.A. 26:2H-55, it can take the form of a proxy directive, which names a health care representative, an instruction directive (often called a living will), which records treatment wishes, or both.

A trust is a legal arrangement in which a trustee holds property for the benefit of others. The person who creates and funds it is the grantor or settlor. A beneficiary named to receive property outright or through a trust is a beneficiary. A person who dies without a valid will dies intestate.

Making a valid will in New Jersey

New Jersey sets out the formalities for a will in N.J.S.A. 3B:3-2. A witnessed will must be in writing, signed by the testator (or by another person in the testator’s presence and at the testator’s direction), and signed by at least two witnesses. Each witness must sign within a reasonable time after watching the testator sign or after the testator acknowledges the signature or the will. The testator must be at least 18 and of sound mind under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-1.

New Jersey also recognizes a handwritten will with no witnesses. Under subsection b of N.J.S.A. 3B:3-2, a document is valid as a “writing intended as a will” if the signature and the material portions are in the testator’s own handwriting. These holographic wills are harder to prove after death because there are no witnesses to confirm the signing.

A will does not have to be notarized to be valid, but adding a self-proving affidavit makes probate simpler. N.J.S.A. 3B:3-4 lets the testator and the two witnesses swear to the execution before a notary or other authorized officer at the time of signing. A self-proved will can be admitted by the Surrogate without tracking down the witnesses later.

What happens without a will

When a person dies without a valid will, New Jersey’s intestacy statutes decide who inherits. The share of a surviving spouse, civil union partner, or domestic partner is set by N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3.

The surviving spouse takes the entire estate when the decedent leaves no surviving descendants and no surviving parent, or when all of the decedent’s descendants are also descendants of that spouse and the spouse has no other children. If the decedent leaves a parent but no descendants, the spouse takes the first 25 percent of the estate, no less than $50,000 and no more than $200,000, plus three-fourths of the balance, under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3. In a blended family, where either the decedent or the spouse has children from another relationship, the spouse takes the first 25 percent (again between $50,000 and $200,000) plus one-half of the balance. Whatever the spouse does not take passes to the decedent’s descendants or other relatives in the order the statute lists.

Powers of attorney and health care directives

A durable power of attorney keeps a trusted agent in charge of finances if the principal becomes incapacitated. New Jersey defines the durable form in N.J.S.A. 46:2B-8.2: the document must state that the authority is “not affected by subsequent disability or incapacity of the principal,” or that it becomes effective upon that incapacity, or use similar words. Without that language, an ordinary power of attorney ends when the principal loses capacity, the moment the agent is usually needed most.

For medical decisions, New Jersey uses the advance directive framework in N.J.S.A. 26:2H-55. A proxy directive names a health care representative to make decisions when the patient cannot. An instruction directive records the patient’s own wishes about life-sustaining treatment and other care. Many people sign a combined directive that does both. These documents operate only while the person lacks decision-making capacity, and they end at death, when the will and the executor take over.

Trusts and non-probate transfers

A trust holds property under the management of a trustee for named beneficiaries. A revocable living trust is common in estate planning because the grantor keeps full control during life, can change or revoke it at any time, and names a successor trustee to take over at incapacity or death. Property titled in the trust passes to the beneficiaries under the trust terms without going through probate.

Several ordinary arrangements also pass property outside a will. A bank or brokerage account with a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary goes directly to that person. Real estate or accounts held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship pass to the surviving owner. Life insurance and retirement accounts pass to whoever is named on the beneficiary form, regardless of what the will says.

Assets that avoid probate are not automatically free of tax. Property passing to a more distant beneficiary through a trust or a beneficiary designation can still fall within the New Jersey inheritance tax, which the New Jersey Division of Taxation applies based on the relationship between the decedent and the person who receives the asset.

Probate and estate administration

Probate in New Jersey runs through the Surrogate’s Office in the county where the decedent lived. The Surrogate admits the will, confirms the executor, and issues letters testamentary, or, when there is no will, letters of administration to an administrator. The executor or administrator then collects assets, pays valid debts and taxes, and distributes what remains to the beneficiaries or heirs.

Estate administration overlaps with guardianship when an adult loses the capacity to manage their own affairs before death. Adult guardianship cases are filed with the county Surrogate’s Office and heard in Superior Court, according to the New Jersey Courts guardianship self-help resource. A guardianship case carries a filing fee of $200, and a person appointed guardian must qualify with the Surrogate within 30 days of the judgment before letters of guardianship are issued. A durable power of attorney and an advance directive signed while a person still has capacity can make a court guardianship unnecessary.

Taxes on New Jersey estates

Two separate death taxes matter in New Jersey, and one of them no longer exists. The New Jersey estate tax was repealed for deaths on or after January 1, 2018, so estates of people who die today owe no state estate tax, as the New Jersey Division of Taxation confirms.

The New Jersey inheritance tax still applies. It is charged on transfers to certain beneficiaries and depends on how the beneficiary is related to the decedent, not on where the beneficiary lives. Close relatives, spouses, children, grandchildren, and parents, are exempt, while transfers to more distant relatives and unrelated people can be taxed. The New Jersey Division of Taxation publishes the beneficiary classes and current rates.

A federal estate tax exists but reaches very few estates. For a 2026 death, a federal estate tax return is required only if the gross estate, increased by certain lifetime gifts, exceeds $15,000,000, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Estates below that threshold generally file no federal estate tax return.

Specific procedures and topics