Free New Jersey Small Estate Affidavit

Prepare the New Jersey small estate affidavit for estates up to $20,000, plus presentation letters for each holder. N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3, 3B:10-4, 3B:10-5.

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Your Information

The New Jersey affidavit identifies the claiming successor and the basis of entitlement.

Skipping probate?Settle the whole estate in one place.

State Where the Property Is Collected*

The decedent's state. Only states where this tool prepares the affidavit are listed; other states' pages explain their procedure.

Your Full Legal Name*

The successor signing the affidavit.

Your Entitlement to the Property*

Street Address*

City*

State

ZIP Code*

Telephone

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NOT LEGAL ADVICE:This document was created entirely based on your selections. SimplyTrust does not review, analyze, or verify your entries, nor do we verify your identity, capacity, or authority to act. You are solely responsible for determining whether this document meets your needs and for completing all required execution formalities (signatures, witnesses, notarization, or recording) in accordance with your state's laws. For any legal questions, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Frequently Asked Questions About New Jersey Small Estate Affidavits

No statewide form. N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3, 3B:10-4 sets what the affidavit must state, and the affidavit is drafted to those requirements; the required elements print with the document as a checklist.

$20,000 — or $50,000 when the surviving spouse is the sole successor, per N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3, 3B:10-4, 3B:10-5. This tool checks the entered estate value against the limit and does not prepare an affidavit for an estate over it.

Intestate estates only. If the total value of the real and personal assets will not exceed $50,000: the surviving spouse, partner in a civil union, or domestic partner. If there is no surviving spouse/partner and the assets will not exceed $20,000: one of the intestate's heirs, who must first obtain the written consent of the remaining heirs, if any, and who receives the assets for the benefit of all heirs and creditors. The affiant acquires the rights, powers, and duties of an administrator and may be sued and required to account as if appointed administrator. N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3, 3B:10-4.

Executed before the Surrogate of the county where the intestate resided at death (for a nonresident intestate, a county where assets are located), or before the Superior Court; the affidavit — and, for the heir affidavit, the written consents — is filed and recorded in the Surrogate's office (or the Superior Court clerk's office). Holders pay on presentation of a copy of the affidavit marked a true copy by the Surrogate or the clerk (N.J.S.A. 3B:10-5); certified copies from the Surrogate function like letters of administration for collection.

The New Jersey affidavit is sworn before the clerk or an officer authorized to administer oaths (N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3, 3B:10-4 ("upon the execution of an affidavit before the Surrogate of the county ... or before the Superior Court")).

Any bank, savings association, other corporation, person, association, or society that pays or delivers assets of the intestate to the person who executed the affidavit, on presentation of a copy marked a true copy by the Surrogate or Superior Court clerk, is forever discharged from claims of any later-appointed administrator or any other person — even if the estate in fact exceeds the cap, the affidavit statements are erroneous, or the 3B:10-4 consents were not obtained (N.J.S.A. 3B:10-5). The first $10,000 of the estate passing to the surviving spouse/partner is free from all debts of the intestate (N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3).

Real property is INCLUDED in the caps: both sections measure "the total value of the real and personal assets of the estate," and the qualifying spouse/partner is "entitled absolutely to all the real and personal assets without administration." There is no separate real-property affidavit; the same instrument covers the whole intestate estate. N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3, 3B:10-4.

Small Estate Collection in New Jersey

The New Jersey affidavit of surviving spouse, partner in a civil union, or domestic partner (n.j.s.a. 3b:10-3) / affidavit of heir (n.j.s.a. 3b:10-4) is prepared by the successor — N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3, 3B:10-4 governs its contents — and collects a small estate's property without probate administration.

The N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3, 3B:10-4, 3B:10-5 limit is $20,000 (rising to $50,000 when the surviving spouse is the sole successor). There is no waiting period after the death. An estate over the limit is administered through probate instead.

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Frequently Asked Questions About New Jersey Small Estate Affidavits

No statewide form. N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3, 3B:10-4 sets what the affidavit must state, and the affidavit is drafted to those requirements; the required elements print with the document as a checklist.

Small Estate Collection in New Jersey

Free New Jersey Small Estate Affidavit

Your Information

Frequently Asked Questions About New Jersey Small Estate Affidavits