Formed in January 2026 by the merger of Gibbons P.C. and Frost Brown Todd, FBT Gibbons keeps Gibbons' longtime Newark office at One Gateway Center. Its Wealth Planning & Family Office team handles estate planning and trust and estate administration, and a dedicated group litigates contested trust and estate matters for fiduciaries and beneficiaries.
Roseland is in Essex County.
More Trust Administration Firms in Essex County
Founded in 1978, Javerbaum Wurgaft is a Springfield firm with offices across northern and central New Jersey. The firm handles estate and trust planning and administration, probate, and estate and trust litigation for individuals and families.
McCarter & English, headquartered in Newark, runs a Trusts, Estates & Private Clients practice serving individuals, business owners, and financial institutions. Its attorneys handle estate and personal tax planning, charitable giving, estate administration, and fiduciary litigation.
Norris McLaughlin specializes in Estate Planning and Administration & Wealth Preservation with a 15-attorney practice group, serving clients throughout North and Central Jersey.
Sills Cummis & Gross is a Newark firm at One Riverfront Plaza whose Tax, Trusts and Estates attorneys handle estate planning and administration, tax litigation, and disputes before the IRS, U.S. Tax Court, and the New Jersey Tax and Superior Courts. Several attorneys are former IRS trial lawyers, giving the group depth in contested tax and fiduciary matters.
Probate in Essex County
Probate Court Record
Essex County Surrogate's Court
Essex County
Phone
Hours
Monday-Friday 8:30 AM-4:30 PM
Office
495 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, 2nd Floor, Newark, NJ 07102
Website
Self-represented filing
Allowed
Self-help forms
How to file probate in Essex County →
Verified October 16, 2026 · Source
Do I need a lawyer for probate in Essex County? →Settling an estate in Essex County →
Forms for Planning and Settling an Estate in New Jersey
Free New Jersey forms to plan or settle an estate: a will, trust, powers of attorney, TOD deed and the probate forms. Prepare each form for New Jersey.
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Revocable Living Trust
Create a revocable living trust to avoid probate, protect privacy, and control asset distribution.
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Free
Pour-Over Will
In New Jersey, a pour-over will is signed before 2N.J.S.A. 3B:3-2Verified Oct 19, 2026View source witnesses and moves anything left outside the trust into it through probate.
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Tools for Planning and Settling an Estate in New Jersey
Free calculators and checklists to plan or settle an estate in New Jersey: will and trust costs, probate, executor pay and taxes. Run each tool for New Jersey.
How Do I Settle a Trust?
Settling a trust in New Jersey happens outside court: the trustee acts under the state's Uniform Trust CodeN.J.S.A. 3B:31-1 et seq.Verified Oct 17, 2026View source, notifies the beneficiaries, then pays the debts and distributes under the trust's terms.
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What's Fair Trustee Compensation?
In New Jersey, trustee compensation follows a statutory fee scheduleN.J.S.A. 3B:18-2 (nontestamentary governing-instrument override), 3B:18-24 (income commissions), 3B:18-25 (annual corpus commissions; court reasonableness review), 3B:18-25.1 (multiple fiduciaries — annual corpus), 3B:18-28 (termination corpus commissions), 3B:18-31 (testamentary-trustee-only excess authorization)Verified Sep 18, 2026View source unless the trust instrument sets a different amount. The schedule is an annual commission on principal.
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How Do I Settle an Estate?
Settling an estate in New Jersey: creditors have 9 monthsN.J.S.A. 3B:22-2, 3B:22-4, 3B:22-8, 3B:22-10, 3B:22-33Verified Oct 18, 2026View source to present claims; a simple estate closes in 6 months to 9 months.
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Do I Have to File Tax Returns for Someone Who Died?
New Jersey requires a final state income tax return for the decedent alongside the federal Form 1040N.J.S.A. 54A:2-1Verified Sep 20, 2026View source; a federal estate tax return (Form 706) is required only for estates above $15,000,00026 USC 2001(c), 2010; P.L. 119-21 §70106Verified Sep 15, 2026View source.
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How Does Step-Up in Basis Work?
Inherited assets in New Jersey take a basis reset to fair market value on the date of death26 USC § 1014Verified Sep 15, 2026View source, and the gain on a later sale faces ordinary income tax at the state's regular ratesN.J.S.A. 54A:2-1 (rate schedule, as amended by P.L. 2020, c.94 — Millionaires Tax)Verified Sep 15, 2026View source.
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