Elective Share is Needs Based and Presumption that Joint Account Passes to Survivor is Rebuttable

Frank Demmerly

Frank R. Demmerly, Jr. is a Stockholder in the law firm of Archer & Greiner, P.C. He provides estate planning, estate administration and estate and gift tax advice. Taking into account client’s personal and tax objective, he provides Wills, Trusts, Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (“ILIT”S”), Power-of-Attorney, Healthcare Proxies, Living Wills, planning and implementation of simple and complex gifting programs (which may use GRAT’S, QPRT’S and other complex techniques), Charitable Remainder trusts, Charitable Foundations, and other estate planning services. He assists clients with the complexities of administration of estates including probate, the preparation and filing of estate tax returns and estate and trust funding and distributions .

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10.10.2019

Posted in Hot Trends: Developing Case Law | By Estate & Trust Group

Elective Share is Needs Based and Presumption that Joint Account Passes to Survivor is Rebuttable

In re Estate of Giordano, No. P-085-18 (Ch. Div. June 10, 2019).

The court highlighted two propositions: (1) New Jersey’s elective share statute is needs based and can be awarded upon a finding that the election is necessary to provide adequate support of the surviving spouse during her probable life expectancy; and (2) the New Jersey Multiple Party Deposit Account Act creates a presumption that funds on deposit at the time of a decedent’s death are to pass to the surviving party, but evidence may rebut that presumption under N.J.S.A. 17:16I-5(a).