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NEW JERSEY LEGAL INFORMATION
Last Will and Testament Statutes
Link to the New Jersey Permanent Statutes online which contain the portion of the Probate Code dealing with last wills, See Title 3B.
American Bar Association Guide to Wills and Estates
American Bar Association, Estate Planning
Selected Statutes
New Jersey Permanent Statutes, Title 3B
- 3B:3-1. Persons competent to make a will and appoint a testamentary guardian. Any person 18 or more years of age who is of sound mind may make a will and may appoint a testamentary guardian.
- 3B:3-2. Formal execution of will. Except as provided in N.J.S. 3B:3-3, every will shall be in writing, signed by the testator or in his name by some other person in his presence and at his direction, and shall be signed by at least two persons each of whom witnessed either the signing or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature or of the will.
- 3B:3-3. Holographic will. A will which does not comply with N.J.S. 3B:3-2 is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material provisions are in the handwriting of the testator.
- 3B:3-4. Making will self-proved at time of execution. Any will executed on or after September 1, 1978 may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved, by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized pursuant to R.S.46:14-6, R.S.46:14-7 or R.S.46:14-8 to take acknowledgments and proofs of instruments entitled to be recorded under the laws of this State, in substantially the following form:
I, .......... , the testator, sign my name to this instrument this .... day of ....... , 19..., and being duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that I sign and execute this instrument as my last will and that I sign it willingly (or willingly direct another to sign for me), that I execute it as my free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that I am 18 years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.
.........................................
Testator
We,............., the witnesses, sign our names to this instrument, and, being duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signs and executes this instrument as his last will and that he signs it willingly (or willingly directs another to sign for him), and that each of us, in the presence and hearing of the testator, hereby signs this will as witness to the testator's signing, and that to the best of our knowledge the testator is 18 years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.
........................................
Witness
........................................
Witness
The State of................
County of...................
Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by ................, the testator and subscribed and sworn to before me by ............ and ............., witnesses, this ............. day of.................
(Signed).............................
................................
(Official capacity of officer)
- 3B:3-7. Who may witness a will. Any person generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will and to testify concerning the execution thereof.
- 3B:3-8. Will not invalidated if signed by interested witness. A will or any provision thereof is not invalid because the will is signed by an interested witness.
- 3B:3-9. Laws determining valid execution of will. A written will is validly executed if executed in compliance with N.J.S. 3B:3-2 or N.J.S. 3B:3-3 or its execution was in compliance with the law of the place where it was executed, or with the law of the place where at the time of execution or at the time of death the testator was domiciled, had a place of abode or was a national.
- 3B:3-10. Incorporation by reference. Any writing in existence when a will is executed may be incorporated by reference if the language of the will manifests this intent and describes the writing sufficiently to permit its identification.
- 3B:3-11. Identifying devise of tangible personal property by separate writing. A will may refer to a written statement or list to dispose of items of tangible personal property not otherwise specifically disposed of by the will, other than money, evidences of indebtedness, documents of title, and securities and property used in trade or business. To be admissible under this section as evidence of the intended disposition, the writing must be either in the handwriting of the testator or be signed by him and must describe the items and the devisees with reasonable certainty. The writing may be referred to as one to be in existence at the time of the testator's death: it may be prepared before or after the execution of the will; it may be altered by the testator after its preparation; and it may be a writing which has no significance apart from its effect upon the dispositions made by the will.
- 3B:3-12. Acts and events of independent significance. A will may dispose of property by reference to acts and events which have significance apart from their effect upon the dispositions made by the will, whether they occur before or after the execution of the will or before or after the testator's death. The execution or revocation of a will of another person is such an event.
- 3B:3-13. Revocation by acts of testator. A will or any part thereof is revoked:
a. By a subsequent will which revokes the former will or part expressly or by inconsistency; or
b. By being burned, torn, canceled, obliterated, or destroyed with the intent and for the purpose of revoking by the testator or by another person in his presence and by his direction.
- 3B:3-14. Revocation by divorce or annulment; revival by remarriage to former spouse.
If after having executed a will the testator is divorced or his marriage annulled, the divorce or annulment revokes any dispositions or appointment of property made by the will to the former spouse, any provision conferring a general or special power of appointment on the former spouse, and any nomination of the former spouse as executor, trustee, or guardian, unless the will expressly provides otherwise. Property prevented from passing to a former spouse because of revocation by divorce or annulment passes as if the former spouse failed to survive the decedent, and other provisions conferring some power or office on the former spouse are interpreted as if the spouse failed to survive the decedent. A judgment from bed and board is a divorce for the purpose of this section. If provisions are revoked solely by this section, they are revived by testator's remarriage to the former spouse or by the revocation or suspension of a judgment of divorce from bed and board. No change of circumstances other than as described in this section revokes a will.
- 3B:3-16. Methods of altering will. No devise in, or clause of a will may be altered, except by another will or codicil or other writing declaring the alteration executed in the manner in which wills are required by law to be executed.
Library of Informational Legal Articles
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