New Jersey Intestate Succession

When a New Jersey resident dies without a will, N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3 and 3B:5-4 name the heirs. A surviving spouse, civil union partner, or domestic partner takes the whole intestate estate in two situations: when no descendant and no parent survives, and when every surviving descendant of the decedent is also a descendant of that survivor and the survivor has no other surviving descendant. In the remaining situations the survivor takes the first 25 percent, floored at $50,000 and capped at $200,000, plus part of the balance.

This guide answers one question: who gets what. It maps New Jersey's intestacy article, Title 3B, Chapter 5. For how an estate with no will is opened and settled through the county Surrogate, read the New Jersey probate guide, then check the dates in the New Jersey probate timeline.

What Intestate Succession Covers

Dying without a will is called dying intestate, and New Jersey statute then names the heirs. Intestacy reaches only probate property, meaning assets that pass through the estate. A life insurance policy with a named beneficiary, a payable-on-death bank account, a securities account with transfer-on-death registration, a house held by spouses as tenants by the entirety, and anything titled in a revocable trust under the New Jersey Uniform Trust Code all pass outside Chapter 5.

A valid will replaces these defaults. Two rules in N.J.S.A. 3B:5-2 catch people out. Any part of the estate the will fails to dispose of still passes by intestacy, so a partial or outdated will can trigger these shares for part of an estate. A will can also expressly exclude an individual or a class from taking an intestate share, and the excluded person's share then passes as if that person had disclaimed. Start with the New Jersey will requirements guide if you are not sure the document you found is a valid will.

Spouses, Civil Union Partners, and Domestic Partners Take the Same Share

New Jersey writes all three relationships into one statute. The heading of N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3 reads "Intestate share of decedent's surviving spouse, partner in a civil union, domestic partner," and every share in the section names all three. Most states carry no comparable text, so cross-state articles routinely describe New Jersey as a spouse-only scheme. It is not.

Watch the wording section by section, because the appointment statute is drafted differently. N.J.S.A. 3B:10-2 tells the Surrogate to grant letters of administration to a surviving spouse or domestic partner first, and to the remaining heirs only if that person declines. It never says civil union partner. The gap closes outside Title 3B: N.J.S.A. 37:1-32 applies the laws of intestate succession, descent and distribution, and probate procedure to civil union couples in like manner, and N.J.S.A. 37:1-33 reads every statutory reference to a spouse as including a civil union. Bring the civil union certificate to the Surrogate's office anyway, because clerks work from the form in front of them.

The Surviving Spouse or Partner Share

Five situations, one statute. Read the table by asking two questions. Does a descendant or a parent of the decedent survive, and does either side have a child the other does not share?

The 25 percent figure is a preferred amount, not a straight percentage share. Run it through the band before you use it. On a $120,000 estate, 25 percent is $30,000, which sits below the floor, so the preferred amount rises to $50,000. On a $1,000,000 estate, 25 percent is $250,000, which sits above the cap, so the preferred amount falls to $200,000. Between $200,000 and $800,000 the raw 25 percent lands inside the band and stands. Those two dollar figures came from P.L.2004, c.132 and carry no inflation indexing, so check the date of death and then use the numbers as written.

Work through one. Say a New Jersey resident dies intestate leaving a spouse, no children, and a surviving mother, with a $400,000 probate estate. The preferred amount is $100,000, which is 25 percent and sits inside the band. The balance is $300,000, and the spouse takes three-fourths of it, or $225,000. The spouse ends with $325,000 and the mother takes $75,000 under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4(b).

Change one fact. If that same decedent instead left a $400,000 estate and one adult child from a prior relationship, the preferred amount is still $100,000, but the survivor now takes one-half of the $300,000 balance. The spouse or partner ends with $250,000 and the child takes $150,000.

A surviving spouse or partner can also reject the intestate share and elect against the estate. N.J.S.A. 3B:8-1 sets the elective share at one-third of the augmented estate, and that fraction does not move with whether descendants survive. The complaint goes to the Superior Court within six months after a personal representative is appointed, under N.J.S.A. 3B:8-12. Compare the two numbers before the six months runs. The guide to spouse and partner rights in New Jersey works through the augmented estate and the exempt property and family allowance that sit alongside it.

A Filed Divorce or a Signed Settlement Cancels the Share

This is the newest rule in the chapter and the one stale articles miss. P.L.2023, c.238 added subsection (d) to N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3. The act was approved January 8, 2024 and took effect immediately. It says the phrase "surviving spouse, partner in a civil union, or domestic partner" does not include a person who, at the decedent's death, fell into any of four situations:

1. Either of them had filed a complaint, not dismissed under Rule 4:6-2, for divorce, dissolution of a civil union, termination of a domestic partnership, or divorce from bed and board.
2. They had a validly executed equitable-distribution cut-off agreement or termination agreement on that same subject matter.
3. They had ceased to cohabit under circumstances that would have supported a divorce or nullity action, and they had divided assets in a way equivalent to equitable distribution through a written agreement, affirmative acts, or both.
4. They had a validly executed marital settlement agreement whose subject matter is divorce, dissolution, termination, or divorce from bed and board.

A person caught by subsection (d) takes no intestate share at all, and the estate runs straight to the heirs in N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4. The same act carried these exclusions into the elective share, so N.J.S.A. 3B:8-1(b) now points back at 3B:5-3(d). If a separation was under way, gather the filing dates and any signed agreement before you distribute a dollar.

When No Spouse or Partner Survives

With no surviving spouse or partner, or for any part of the estate that does not pass to one, N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4 sends the estate down a fixed order. Each class must be empty before the next inherits.

1. Descendants. The decedent's children and their descendants take by representation.
2. Parents. With no surviving descendant, the estate passes to the parents equally, or to the surviving parent, subject to the disqualification in N.J.S.A. 3B:5-14.1.
3. Descendants of parents. With no descendant and no parent, the estate passes to the descendants of the decedent's parents, meaning brothers and sisters and their children, by representation.
4. Grandparents and their descendants. With none of the above, half passes to the paternal grandparents or their descendants by representation, and half to the maternal side the same way. If one side has no surviving grandparent and no descendant of a grandparent, the whole estate goes to the other side.
5. Descendants of grandparents. If no grandparent survives but descendants of grandparents do, they take equally when all are of the same degree of kinship, and by representation when the degrees are unequal.
6. Step-children. If no descendant of a grandparent survives, the estate passes to the decedent's step-children or their descendants by representation.

If a class has a living member, the search stops there. The estate never skips a living parent to reach a sibling.

Step-Children Inherit as a Last Resort

New Jersey sits in a small group of states where a step-child can inherit by intestacy. P.L.2009, c.43 added subsection (f) to N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4 and made step-children and their descendants the final class. They take only after descendants, parents, siblings, grandparents, and the descendants of grandparents are exhausted. That is a distant reach, so it rarely decides an estate. When it does, it is usually the difference between a family taking the estate and the State taking it.

Representation: How a Deceased Heir's Branch Inherits

New Jersey divides a deceased heir's share by representation as defined in N.J.S.A. 3B:5-6. This is the modern Uniform Probate Code method, per capita at each generation, and it is not strict per stirpes. Here is how it runs. Split the estate into equal shares at the nearest generation that has a living member, one share for each living member and one for each deceased member who left surviving descendants. Each living member takes one share. The remaining shares are then combined and divided the same way at the next generation.

That pooling step is what separates New Jersey from a per stirpes state. Say a decedent left no spouse, one living child, and two children who died first, and those two left five grandchildren between them. The estate splits into three shares at the child generation. The living child takes one-third. The two shares belonging to the deceased children are combined into two-thirds and split equally among all five grandchildren, so each grandchild takes 2/15. Under strict per stirpes each branch would keep its own one-third and grandchildren in different branches would receive different amounts. Confirm which method applies before you write a distribution schedule, because the two produce different checks.

Half Blood, Adoption, and a Child in Gestation

Three status rules decide who counts as an heir at all.

Half-blood relatives take a full share. N.J.S.A. 3B:5-7 says relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood, so a half-sibling who shares one parent with the decedent inherits the same as a full sibling. New Jersey applies no ancestral-property or source-of-title exception, and several states do, so do not import one.

Adoption is a cross-reference, not a one-line answer. N.J.S.A. 3B:5-9 does not state the effect of adoption itself. It sends a minor adopted child to N.J.S.A. 9:3-50 and an adopted adult to N.J.S.A. 2A:22-3, and those statutes govern. Ask a New Jersey attorney to apply them to the actual facts rather than assuming the usual severance rule.

A child conceived before death and born after still inherits. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-8, an individual in gestation at a particular time is treated as living at that time if the individual lives 120 hours or more after birth.

The 120-Hour Survival Rule

An heir must outlive the decedent by 120 hours, which is five full days. N.J.S.A. 3B:5-1 puts the weight on proof: an individual not established by clear and convincing evidence to have survived the decedent by 120 hours is deemed to have predeceased, and the shares are worked out as if that person were never there. The statute carries one carve-out. It is not applied where applying it would send the intestate estate to the State.

A Parent or a Killer Can Lose the Right to Inherit

Two forfeiture rules sit alongside the shares. N.J.S.A. 3B:5-14.1 strips a parent of all right to an intestate share and all right to administer the estate if the parent refused to acknowledge or abandoned the decedent while the decedent was a minor, was convicted of sexual assault, criminal sexual contact, or endangering the welfare of children against the decedent, was convicted of an attempt or conspiracy to murder the decedent, or abused or neglected the decedent in a way that contributed to the death. A disqualified parent is treated as having died first.

N.J.S.A. 3B:7-1.1 handles the killer. Someone responsible for the intentional killing of the decedent forfeits every benefit under Title 3B, including an intestate share, an elective share, exempt property, and a family allowance, and an intestate estate passes as if that person had disclaimed. The section also severs joint tenancies and tenancies by the entirety into tenancies in common. Both rules are civil forfeitures inside the probate code, not criminal penalties.

Heirs Take as Tenants in Common

When property is distributed to two or more heirs under this article, N.J.S.A. 3B:5-14 makes them tenants in common, not joint tenants with right of survivorship. That matters most with a house. Three siblings who inherit a home each own an undivided share that passes under their own estates, and none of them picks up the others' shares automatically at death. Say so in writing before the deed is recorded. The New Jersey executor duties guide covers the rest of the distribution work. To see how these shares divide one specific estate, run the New Jersey inheritance calculator.

Which Heirs Owe New Jersey Inheritance Tax

The share the statute gives an heir is not the amount that heir keeps. New Jersey stopped imposing its estate tax for individuals who died on or after January 1, 2018, and it still collects a Transfer Inheritance Tax under N.J.S.A. 54:34-2. The tax turns on the heir's relationship to the decedent, not on the size of the estate.

Line that table up against the class order above and the sting shows. A step-child who inherits under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4(f), the very last intestacy class, is Class A and pays nothing. A niece who inherits one step earlier under 3B:5-4(c) is Class D and hands over 15 percent. Step-grandchildren sit in Class D too, even though grandchildren sit in Class A. Whoever settles the estate should price the tax before promising anyone a number.

Who Gets Appointed to Run an Intestate Estate

Somebody has to be authorized before a bank will release a dollar. N.J.S.A. 3B:10-2 grants administration to the surviving spouse or domestic partner if that person accepts, then to the remaining heirs, then to any fit person who applies. If the heirs do not claim administration within 40 days after the death, the Surrogate or the Superior Court may appoint any fit applicant. The first steps after a death in New Jersey page covers the documents to gather before that appointment.

One shortcut exists and it applies only to intestate estates. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3, where the total real and personal assets will not exceed $50,000, a surviving spouse, civil union partner, or domestic partner can sign an affidavit before the Surrogate of the county where the decedent lived and take the assets with no administration at all, with the first $10,000 free from the decedent's debts. Where no spouse or partner survives, one heir with the written consent of the remaining heirs can do the same up to $20,000 under N.J.S.A. 3B:10-4. The New Jersey small estate affidavit page sets out both routes step by step.

What Happens If No Heir Exists

New Jersey's intestacy article ends at step-children and names no escheat taker, so the answer sits in two other statutes. Real estate escheats under N.J.S.A. 2A:37-1: where a person dies owning New Jersey land without having devised it and without heirs capable of inheriting, the Attorney General brings an action in the Superior Court, and title to escheated land passes to the State on the death. Unclaimed personal property held by the fiduciary of an intestate estate and payable to unknown heirs is presumed abandoned under N.J.S.A. 46:30B-37.1 and reported to the State, where a rightful claimant can still recover it.

Before any of that, N.J.S.A. 3B:5-5.1 puts a duty on the fiduciary. If it appears that heirs exist whose names or addresses are unknown, the fiduciary must make a diligent inquiry to identify and locate them, using steps that have a reasonable likelihood of working and that cost something sensible against the size of the distribution. Keep a record of the search. A judge will ask for it.

How the Pieces Fit Together

Read a New Jersey intestate distribution in this order:

1. Separate probate property from assets that pass by beneficiary designation, survivorship, entireties ownership, or trust. Only probate property follows Chapter 5.
2. Check whether a will disposes of part of the estate. The undisposed part still runs through these rules.
3. Confirm that the surviving spouse, civil union partner, or domestic partner is not excluded by N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3(d).
4. Apply the share in N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3, running the 25 percent preferred amount through the $50,000 floor and the $200,000 cap before adding the fraction of the balance.
5. For any part that does not pass to the survivor, run the class order in N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4, ending with step-children.
6. Apply representation under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-6, pooling the deceased members' shares at each generation, and give half-blood relatives a full share.
7. Adjust for the 120-hour rule, a child in gestation, and any parent or killer forfeiture.
8. Price the Transfer Inheritance Tax on each heir's class before you promise anyone a figure.

Whoever settles the estate still has to qualify with the Surrogate, pay valid debts, and only then distribute. Paying heirs ahead of creditors is the mistake that costs an administrator personally.

Common Questions

Who inherits when there is no will in New Jersey?

N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3 pays a surviving spouse, civil union partner, or domestic partner first. Whatever does not go to that survivor runs down the class order in N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4: descendants, then parents, then siblings and their descendants, then grandparents and their descendants, then step-children.

Does a surviving spouse get everything in New Jersey?

Only in two situations. The survivor takes the whole intestate estate when no descendant and no parent of the decedent survives, or when every surviving descendant is shared and the survivor has no other descendant. In the other three situations the survivor takes a 25 percent preferred amount plus part of the balance.

Do civil union partners and domestic partners inherit in New Jersey?

Yes. N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3 names a surviving spouse, a partner in a civil union, and a domestic partner in the same breath and gives all three the same share. Most states have no comparable text, so cross-state articles that describe New Jersey as spouse-only are wrong.

Can a separated spouse still inherit in New Jersey?

Often no. N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3(d), added by P.L.2023, c.238 on January 8, 2024, cuts off a survivor who at the death had a pending divorce or dissolution complaint, a signed equitable-distribution cut-off agreement, a marital settlement agreement, or a completed asset split after the couple stopped living together.

Can a step-child inherit without a will in New Jersey?

Yes, as the last class in the order. N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4(f) sends the estate to the decedent's step-children and their descendants when no descendant, parent, sibling, grandparent, or descendant of a grandparent survives. P.L.2009, c.43 added that class in 2009, and few states allow a step-child to inherit at all.

What is the 25 percent preferred amount in New Jersey?

It is the first slice a surviving spouse, civil union partner, or domestic partner takes under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3 before splitting the balance. Run 25 percent of the intestate estate through a $50,000 floor and a $200,000 cap. Those two figures date from P.L.2004, c.132 and carry no inflation indexing.

Do intestate heirs pay New Jersey inheritance tax?

Class A heirs pay nothing, which covers a spouse, civil union partner, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, and step-child. A brother or sister is Class C and pays 11 to 16 percent above a $25,000 exemption. A niece, nephew, aunt, uncle, or cousin is Class D at 15 to 16 percent.

How long must an heir outlive the decedent in New Jersey?

120 hours, which is five full days. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-1 an heir who is not established by clear and convincing evidence to have survived that long is treated as having died first. The rule is set aside when applying it would hand the intestate estate to the State.

When to Get Help

Some intestate distributions are simple to map from the statute. Others need a licensed New Jersey attorney, above all when:

• a child from a prior relationship moves the share between the whole estate and the 25 percent band plus half the balance
• a separation, a filed divorce complaint, or a settlement agreement may trigger N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3(d)
• a deceased heir's branch raises a representation question
• the estate reaches grandparents and splits between the maternal and paternal sides
• adoption, a step-child, or a child in gestation is part of the family tree
• an heir cannot be located, or a parent forfeiture may apply
• real estate must be sold to pay debts

This guide helps you organize the source-backed shares and the questions to ask. A licensed New Jersey attorney can advise on rights, disputes, and signing decisions for a specific estate.

Related New Jersey Guides

• New Jersey Probate Guide
• New Jersey Will Requirements
• New Jersey Executor Duties
• New Jersey Probate Timeline
• New Jersey Surrogate's Court Directory
• First Steps After a Death in New Jersey

This is general information about New Jersey estates, not advice for your situation. Confirm anything that affects your estate with the county Surrogate, the Superior Court Chancery Division Probate Part, or a licensed New Jersey attorney.

Sources:

• Title: P.L.2023, c.238, An Act concerning equitable distribution and amending various sections of the New Jersey Statutes (current text of N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3, 3B:5-4, 3B:7-1.1, and 3B:8-1). Publisher: New Jersey Legislature. Publication Date: January 8, 2024. URL: https://pub.njleg.gov/bills/2022/PL23/238_.HTM
• Title: P.L.2009, c.43, An Act concerning divorce and decedents, revising various parts of the statutory law, and supplementing Title 3B of the New Jersey Statutes (step-children under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4(f) and parental forfeiture under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-14.1). Publisher: New Jersey Legislature. Publication Date: April 15, 2009. URL: https://pub.njleg.gov/bills/2008/PL09/43_.HTM
• Title: P.L.2004, c.132, An Act concerning wills and estates and revising various sections of the statutory law (the 25 percent preferred amount with the $50,000 floor and $200,000 cap, plus N.J.S.A. 3B:5-1, 3B:5-2, 3B:5-5.1, 3B:5-6, 3B:5-8, and 3B:5-9). Publisher: New Jersey Legislature. Publication Date: August 31, 2004. URL: https://pub.njleg.gov/bills/2004/PL04/132_.HTM
• Title: P.L.2005, c.331, An Act concerning rights of surviving domestic partners and amending various sections of the statutory law (N.J.S.A. 3B:5-14, 3B:8-12, and 3B:10-2). Publisher: New Jersey Legislature. Publication Date: January 12, 2006. URL: https://pub.njleg.gov/bills/2004/PL05/331_.HTM
• Title: New Jersey General and Permanent Statutes, official full-text publication updated through P.L.2025, c.346 (section text for N.J.S.A. 3B:5-1 through 3B:5-14.1, 3B:5-7, 3B:7-1.1, 3B:10-3, 2A:37-1, 46:30B-37.1, and 37:1-32). Publisher: New Jersey Legislature. Publication Date: July 29, 2026. URL: https://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/nxt/gateway.dll/statutes/1?f=templates&fn=default.htm&vid=Publish:10.1048/Enu
• Title: Inheritance Tax Rates. Publisher: New Jersey Department of the Treasury, Division of Taxation. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/inheritance-estate/tax-rates.shtml
• Title: Inheritance Tax Beneficiary Classes. Publisher: New Jersey Department of the Treasury, Division of Taxation. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/other_forms/inheritance/transferinheritanceclasses.pdf
• Title: Inheritance and Estate Tax. Publisher: New Jersey Department of the Treasury, Division of Taxation. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/inheritance-estate/inheritance.shtml
• Title: New Jersey Surrogates Roster. Publisher: New Jersey Courts. Publication Date: July 20, 2026. URL: https://www.njcourts.gov/public/directories/court-services/county-surrogates

It is not legal advice.