When to Probate the Last Will & Testament

 When to Probate the Last Will & Testament

A Last Will & Testament cannot be probated until ten (10) days following the death of the testator. However, you may begin the process with the Surrogate’s Court within this ten (10) day period. If you do so, the Surrogate’s Court simply will not admit the Last Will & Testament to probate until after the ten (10) days have lapsed.

If you are appointed under the Last Will & Testament to manage, that is, to be the executor of the estate you must first probate the Last Will & Testament at the Bergen County Surrogate’s Court. To do this you must bring the following with you to the Surrogate’s Court: (1) the original Last Will & Testament (bearing original signatures, not unstapled nor tampered with), the original of which remains with the Surrogate’s Court; (2) a certified copy of the death certificate (obtained from the Board of Health in the municipality where the testator died) which also remains with Surrogate’s Court; (3) all the full names and most current addresses of the immediate degrees of kindred (i.e., surviving spouse, surviving family and next of kin) including those who are not beneficiaries in the Last Will & Testament; and (4) cash or a check (drawn upon a New Jersey bank bearing a New Jersey address), certified check, or money order for probate statutory fees that are generally $100 to $200. You should not fill in the check until your meeting at the Surrogate’s Court.

In addition, if a Last Will & Testament is not “self-proving,” meaning it does not include a sworn statement containing statutory wording, then a person who signed the Last Will & Testament as a witness or a “bystander witness” (one who witnessed the testator and the two witnesses sign the Last Will & Testament, but they themselves did not sign the Last Will & Testament) must also come to the Surrogate’s Court to authenticate the witnesses’ signatures. Conversely, a self-proving Last Will & Testament is one where the testator and two witnesses sign the Last Will & Testament in front of a notary public, or New Jersey attorney, and includes a sworn statement containing statutory language required by New Jersey law. That statement is called a “self-proving affidavit.” If a Last Will & Testament is self-proving (must have the sworn statement containing the statutory language), there is no need for a witness to its execution to come to the Surrogate’s Court because the notary public, or New Jersey attorney, before whom the testator and witnesses signed the Last Will & Testament, effectively attests to the authenticity of the testator’s and witnesses’ signatures. A Last Will & Testament executed on forms made after 1979 are most often self-proving. If in doubt, ask the probate clerk at the Surrogate’s Court or an attorney.

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