Appellate Division Determines a Child’s Right to Support Outweighs a Beneficiary’s Right to Alter Distributions
In re Estate of Franklin, Docket No. A-4003-23, 2025 WL 2836025 (N.J. Super. App. Div. Oct. 7, 2025)
The parties’ mother died intestate. She left three children who entered into litigation with each other. A neutral administrator of the estate was appointed.
The litigation was settled by an agreement by two of the children – Anthony and Kelly – which provided that under N.J.S.A. § 3B:23-9, those parties agreed that Kelly would transfer her share of the estate to Anthony. The agreement also provided for $10,000 to be paid to Kelly’s daughter.
The agreement was submitted to the trial court for approval. The trial judge added language to the effect that Kelly still needed to satisfy an outstanding child support obligation before the administrator of the estate could make the distribution of her share to Anthony. The judge reasoned that N.J.S.A. § 3B:23-9 was overridden by N.J.S.A. § 2A:17-56.23b, which requires the satisfaction of any outstanding child support lien before distributions from an estate. However, the trial court noted that it did not find any case on point as to the interplay of these statutes.
Anthony appealed. He argued that, because N.J.S.A. § 3B:23-9 allows the parties in interest to alter the allocation of shares of the estate, Kelly’s child support lien should not take priority.
The Appellate Division rejected this argument and affirmed the trial court. It determined that Anthony’s argument would undermine the rights of children to support. The child’s right to support is paramount and outweighs the beneficiaries’ right to alter distributions under N.J.S.A. § 3B:23-9.