To increase the legal authority of the will and avoid some difficulties later in probate court, have your will signed and stamped by a notary when you and your witnesses sign, and attach a confirmation and affidavit of execution of the will. You may also want to register the will, but you don`t have to do so to make it legally binding. The additional costs associated with the need to prove that the handwritten will is authentic and the possibility of a dispute over handwriting also increase the possibility that the estate will be significantly depleted by probate fees. This means that the testator`s expectations about the goods available for distribution and the security offered to loved ones may not be met. Here are the basic requirements for making a valid will in New Jersey – legally called “enforcement”: These different legal requirements and evidentiary issues mean that a holograph will can be more expensive and time-consuming than a traditional will. In addition, many draw up a holograph will without legal advice. The assistance of a lawyer can help ensure that the will includes all assets and that all relevant factors are part of the will. These provisions are often not as simple as they seem, so qualified assistance can have a significant impact. The best way to avoid this is to have a valid, legal will that clearly outlines your intentions and desires and appoints a trusted executor to manage your estate.
At Bratton Estate & Elder Care Attorneys, our estate planning lawyers can help you create a comprehensive estate plan that not only considers your wishes, but also stands up to legal scrutiny. This is what you need to know about holographic wills and their position in New Jersey. However, as FindLaw explains, you can create a handwritten will to leave, but only use it as a last resort. Understanding New Jersey`s wills laws can help you worry about the future of your estate or the estate of your loved one. Most probate disputes involve estates without a valid will. Unfortunately, if someone dies without a will, it can lead to significant disagreements between potential beneficiaries. Friends and family members argue about what their deceased loved one wanted, and sometimes it creates a rift that lasts for years. According to New Jersey`s 3B:3-2B laws, a holograph will is a very informal document written in the deceased`s hand and signed by him.
A holograph will is a legally enforceable document, i.e. as long as it meets the necessary criteria. Regardless of the informality of the document – whether typed or written on a piece of paper – if a will meets the requirements of a holograph will by proving that it was written and signed by the deceased rather than another person, the court will follow its guidelines. Simply put, the handwritten will delays the probate process, delays the administration of that estate for many months, and costs that estate several thousand dollars more than a lawyer`s fee to prepare the will in the first place. In fact, most wills made by lawyers can be verified by the family member`s executor in the surrogate`s office without the assistance of a lawyer. Second, the assets that can be distributed to beneficiaries or heirs are reduced because of the additional costs required to bring an action for succession of a holograph will before the Superior Court. In some cases, different beneficiaries and potential heirs have different goals, which means that war experts and conflicting statements from those closest to the deceased can complicate the analysis. In addition, traditional wills are filed for probate through the surrogate court, but a handwritten will must be filed with the Superior Court. Finally, holographic wills are often drafted without legal advice or a full understanding of the implications of certain provisions, rules of procedure and other factors that may affect the validity of the will or the extent to which the will is interpreted and distributed as the testator would have wished. One.
We`re glad you make sure you get it right before it`s too late. A validly signed will in New Jersey is a written document signed by the testator — the person whose wishes are set out in the will — or by another person in the testator`s conscious presence and direction, said Yale Hauptman, estate planning attorney at Hauptman and Hauptman in Livingston. testator or confirmation of his will. “The law states that a will that does not comply with this law can be considered valid as a letter intended as a will, whether it is attested or not, if the signature and the material parts of the document are in the hand of the testator,” he said. This is commonly referred to as a holograph will. Hauptman said the law does not define what is meant by “material” part. While the entire will doesn`t need to be handwritten by the testator, a “fill in the blanks” form may not meet that requirement, he said. It all depends on what is pre-printed and what needs to be filled out by the testator. “A substantial part would certainly include the part of the will that deals with the distribution of one`s own property,” he said. A pre-printed form that says, “I`m going to leave my estate ___, where you just enter a name, you probably won`t pass the `material part` test. Hauptman said holograph wills are generally harder to admit and are more likely to be challenged by family members and heirs. The costs saved by “doing it yourself” instead of consulting a lawyer who has experience drafting wills are minimal compared to the legal fees spent after the death by the family to find out if your will is designed as a will or if your wishes have been clearly stated in the document. Says.
There are also many problems that people are not even aware of when making wills. “When customers tell us what they want and think they`ve covered everything, we often raise questions they never considered or show them that their desires aren`t as clear as they originally thought,” he said. A common example is when a person wants to leave something to a daughter-in-law because they want to treat her “like my daughter.” However, this can trigger an estate tax in New Jersey that would not be due if left entirely to the son. Hauptman said it`s “important to know what you don`t know.” Creating a holograph will may seem deceptively simple, but you won`t know if it will succeed until it goes through probate processing, and by then it will be too late to fix it, Hauptman said. “You have now left behind a legal mess that your loved ones need to fix,” he said. If you`re wondering, “Can a valid will be challenged?”, claiming that a person was not of sound mind is usually the most common (and successful) reason to challenge a will. Lack of competence can also result from a person being unduly influenced or persuaded to draw up a will in a certain way. Since the will is a crucial part of end-of-life documents and determines how a deceased`s remaining assets will be passed on, it is important to ensure that the documents submitted are likely and executed in accordance with the wishes of the deceased.
While an informal and handwritten will may be considered a legitimate holographic version in some circumstances, each aspect of the will is much more likely to be respected and executed if the original document is written or reviewed by an experienced estate planning attorney in New Jersey. Holograph wills are easy to contest, easily lost, and easily left uncovered if they do not exist at the time and place of death.
