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Legality of Will

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jenp1172

Junior Member
What is the name of your state NJ?

My mother passed away from a very aggressive form of cancer. Prior to her passing she wrote a "will" but it was not witnessed or notarized. Now her husband (not my or any of my siblings father) says we can not come get the things my mother left to us. The stuff she wanted us to have is all things that have been passed down from her parents and grandparents. It has nothing to do with her life with him. Do I have any legal rights to the stuff even though it's not a true legal document?
 


anteater

Senior Member
Do I have any legal rights to the stuff even though it's not a true legal document?
Absent a vaild will, you do not have any legal rights to any specific "stuff." You may be entitled to inherit under New Jersey's intestate succession statutes.

In New Jersy, a will generally must be signed by at least two witnesses, each of whom actually witnessed the testator signing the will. However, New Jersey does recognize holographic wills. To keep it understandable, this is from Bergen County Surrogate's Court website:
A handwritten Will, known as a holographic Will, may be valid if it can be proved that the signature and the important provisions are in the same handwriting and the handwriting is that of the testator or testatrix. This handwritten document, if accepted by the Superior Court as the decedent's Last Will, must be probated in Superior Court rather than Surrogate's Court. Accordingly, this is a very expensive document to probate and a typewritten, formally signed Will, is always preferable.
If you have the document, ask a probate attorney for a quick consultation to determine if the document qualifies as a valid will.

If the document is not valid, your mother's estate would be distributed this way through the probate process:
If any part of a New Jersey decedent's estate is not effectively disposed of by will, the intestate share will be distributed in the following order and manner:

1. Surviving spouse or domestic partner. A surviving spouse or domestic partner is generally first in line to get any assets from the intestate estate. However, the amount a surviving spouse or domestic partner is entitled to varies as follows:

If the decedent leaves no descendants (e.g., child or grandchild) or parents, the surviving spouse or domestic partner is entitled to the entire intestate estate.

The surviving spouse or domestic partner is also entitled to the entire intestate estate if all of the decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse or domestic partner and there is no other descendant of the surviving spouse or domestic partner who survives the decedent.

If the decedent is survived by a parent or parents, but not survived by any descendants, the surviving spouse or domestic partner is entitled to the first 25% of the estate, but not less than $50,000 nor more than $200,000, plus three-fourths of the remaining balance of the intestate estate.

The surviving spouse or domestic partner is entitled to the first 25% of the intestate estate, but not less than $50,000.00 nor more than $200,000.00, plus one-half of the balance of the intestate estate

if all of the decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse or domestic partner and the surviving spouse or domestic partner has one or more surviving descendants who are not descendants of the decedent; or
if one or more of the decedent's surviving descendants is not a descendant of the surviving spouse or domestic partner.

2. Heirs other than surviving spouse or domestic partner. Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse or domestic partner as indicated above, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse or domestic partner, passes as follows to decedent's:

Descendants, taking equally if they are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent and, if of unequal degree, taking per stirpes.
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