Release & Refunding Bond

 Release & Refunding Bond

Once debts and taxes of the estate are paid and the executor is ready to make final distribution, the executor must have each beneficiary sign a “Release & Refunding Bond.” By executing a Refunding Bond, the beneficiary is agreeing that, in the event the assets distributed to him or her are needed at a later time to pay any debt of the estate, the beneficiary will return (i.e., refund) part or all of the assets received as needed to pay estate debts. This provides the executor with security in the unlikely event claims are subsequently made against the estate.

The “Release” is proof that the executor has made distribution and that the beneficiary has received his or her bequest. The Surrogate’s Court provides a free sample form of a combined Release and Refunding Bond. The executed Release and Refunding Bond (as executed in front of a notary public) should then be filed with the Surrogate’s Court with the statutory fee for the filing. It is essential that the executor obtain and file with the Surrogate’s Court, either an executed Release or combined Release & Refunding Bond from each beneficiary of the testator’s estate.

Source http://www.bergencountysurrogate.com/probate.html