New Jersey Trust Administration

New Jersey trust administration begins the day the settlor dies. You accept the trusteeship, take control of the trust property, keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed, pay the settlor's debts and the Transfer Inheritance Tax, then distribute what the trust document directs. None of it needs a County Surrogate file or a judge's signature, which is one reason the trust existed in the first place.

The rules sit in the New Jersey Uniform Trust Code, N.J.S.A. 3B:31-1 through 3B:31-84, enacted as P.L.2015, c.276 and approved January 19, 2016. Section 3B:31-84 applies it to trusts created before, on, or after its effective date, so an older trust runs on it too. Here is the one difference worth learning before anything else. New Jersey wrote no notice deadline into its disclosure section. There is no 60-day letter and no 90-day letter the way Maryland and many other states require. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-67 gives you a continuing duty to disclose and leaves the periodic report to your judgment. That is not the whole story on letters, though. A different section, N.J.S.A. 3B:31-45, makes one specific notice worth sending on purpose, because it can cut a three-year window to contest the trust down to four or six months. Step 3 covers what that letter has to contain.

If you are still learning the document rather than settling it, start with how a New Jersey living trust works. Read this page beside the New Jersey executor duties guide, since most trust settlements run alongside a small pour-over probate, and the New Jersey inheritance tax guide, since a trust does not escape that tax. For the wider process start at the New Jersey probate guide.

The Sequence Most New Jersey Trustees Follow

1. Accept the trusteeship, or send a written renunciation.
2. Order certified death certificates and secure the trust property.
3. Get a federal tax ID number for the trust and open a trust bank account.
4. Tell the qualified beneficiaries who you are and what the trust is.
5. Inventory every asset and set a date-of-death value on each one.
6. Pay valid debts, final income taxes, and the New Jersey Transfer Inheritance Tax.
7. Send a report if you want the six-month protection that comes with it.
8. Distribute under the trust terms, take receipts, and close the trust.

Each step below points to the section that controls it, so you can read the law yourself.

Step 1: Accept the Trusteeship, or Send a Renunciation

Under N.J.S.A. 3B:31-46, a trustee other than a testamentary trustee accepts by complying in substance with a method of acceptance written into the trust, or, where the trust names no method or does not make its method exclusive, by accepting delivery of the trust property, exercising powers as trustee, performing duties as trustee, or otherwise indicating acceptance. A testamentary trustee accepts as N.J.S.A. 3B:11-2 provides.

You can say no. A person named as trustee who has not yet accepted may renounce, and a designated trustee who does not accept within a reasonable time after learning of the designation is treated as having renounced.

Section 3B:31-46(c) gives you room to move before you decide. Without accepting, you may act to preserve the trust property, so long as within a reasonable time after acting you send a renunciation to the settlor or, where the settlor has died or lacks capacity, to the qualified beneficiaries and to any designated successor trustee. You may also inspect or investigate trust property to size up liability under environmental or other law.

If the named successor is gone, N.J.S.A. 3B:31-49 fills the seat in a set order for a noncharitable trust: the person the trust designates, then the procedure the trust establishes, then a person appointed by unanimous agreement of the qualified beneficiaries, then a person appointed by the court. Whoever fills the vacancy holds all the powers and discretions of the original trustee.

Once you accept, read the trust and every amendment start to finish. Note who takes what, which gifts carry conditions, whether a sub-trust keeps running after the main trust closes, whether the document sets your fee, and who serves after you.

Step 2: Secure the Property and Keep Money Separate

N.J.S.A. 3B:31-63 says a trustee shall take reasonable steps to take control of and protect the trust property. That means moving in the first two weeks:

• Order 8 to 12 certified death certificates. Banks, transfer agents, and title companies each keep their own copy, and the New Jersey death certificate guide covers who may order one and what it costs.
• Secure the house, the cars, the jewelry, and the paper files. Change the locks if the settlor lived alone.
• Keep property and auto insurance in force. A lapse during administration is a loss the trust absorbs.
• Forward the mail so bills, statements, and tax notices reach you.

Get a Tax ID and Open a Trust Account

While the settlor lived, a revocable trust generally reported under the settlor's Social Security number. After death the trust needs its own Employer Identification Number, which the IRS issues at no charge. Open a checking account in the trust's name with that number, and run every dollar through it.

New Jersey law backs the habit. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-64 requires a trustee to keep adequate records of the administration, to keep trust property separate from the trustee's own property, and to designate trust property so the trust's interest appears in records maintained by someone other than a trustee or a beneficiary. Commingling is the fastest route to a fight you cannot win on paper.

Use a Certification of Trust With Banks

You rarely need to hand a bank the whole trust document. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-81 lets you furnish a certification of trust instead, to anyone who is not a beneficiary. It states that the trust exists and when it was signed, who the settlor was, who is acting as trustee and where to reach them, the trustee's powers, whether the trust is revocable, which co-trustees have to sign, and the name in which title may be taken. Every currently acting trustee signs it, and it confirms the trust has not been revoked, modified, or amended in a way that makes the statements wrong.

A recipient may ask for excerpts that name the trustee and grant the power to act in the pending transaction. Anyone who relies on a certification without knowing the statements are wrong is protected. And a person who demands the full trust instrument on top of a certification is liable for damages if the court finds the demand was not made in good faith. Keep a signed certification on your phone and in the file.

Step 3: Tell the Qualified Beneficiaries, on Your Own Schedule

This is where New Jersey parts company with its neighbors. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-67 sets three duties and attaches no notice deadline to them:

• Keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration of the trust and about the material facts they need to protect their interests.
• Respond promptly to a beneficiary's request for information about the administration, unless responding is unreasonable under the circumstances.
• Furnish a beneficiary a copy of the trust instrument on request.

Read those as defaults, not as absolutes. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-5(a) says the act governs the trustee's duties except as otherwise provided in the terms of the trust, and 3B:31-5(b) lets the trust terms prevail over the act except for eleven listed items. Only one of those eleven touches disclosure: 3B:31-5(b)(7) protects the duty under subsections a. and b. of 3B:31-67 to respond to a qualified beneficiary of an irrevocable trust who has reached age 35 who asks for a copy of the trust instrument or for other information reasonably related to the administration. So a settlor can narrow much of what is listed above, and the part no settlor can waive is narrower and age-gated. Check the trust instrument before you assume a duty applies, and before you assume you are owed one.

A qualified beneficiary under N.J.S.A. 3B:31-3 is a beneficiary who, on the date qualification is measured, is a distributee or permissible distributee of income or principal, or who would be one if the current distributees' interests ended that day, or who would be one if the trust terminated that day. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-10 widens the circle: any other beneficiary who has sent you a request for notice gets notice too, an animal-care or noncharitable-purpose enforcer holds the rights of a qualified beneficiary, and the Attorney General holds those rights for a charitable trust administered here.

N.J.S.A. 3B:31-9 tells you how to send it. First-class mail, personal delivery, delivery to the last known residence or place of business, or a properly directed textual electronic message all count, as long as the method is reasonably suitable and likely to result in receipt. A person entitled to notice can waive it, and you need not notify someone whose identity or location you cannot reasonably learn.

Since 3B:31-67 sets no clock, set one yourself, and send the right letter while you are at it. There is a separate statute that rewards a specific notice: N.J.S.A. 3B:31-45(a) gives someone contesting a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death the earlier of three years after the death, or four months for a New Jersey resident and six months for a nonresident after the trustee sends that person a copy of the trust instrument together with a notice stating that the trust exists, giving the trustee's name and address, and stating the time allowed to start a proceeding.

Both elements are required. A letter that merely offers to supply the document on request, or that omits the contest deadline, does not start the short clock, and the three-year window stays open. So send the instrument itself and state the deadline. A letter within 30 days of accepting, naming yourself, giving your address and phone number, identifying the trust and the settlor, enclosing the trust instrument, and stating the time allowed to contest, costs you an hour and can close a three-year exposure down to months. Keep a dated copy of every letter you send, with proof of what was enclosed.

Step 4: Inventory the Trust and Value It

Build a full list of what the trust owns and what each item was worth on the date of death:

• Real property, with a date-of-death appraisal for each parcel
• Bank accounts, certificates of deposit, and money market accounts
• Brokerage and investment accounts
• Retirement accounts and life insurance that name the trust
• Business interests and partnership units
• Vehicles, jewelry, collectibles, and household contents

Get a written appraisal for real property, closely held business interests, and anything unusual. Those numbers feed the inheritance tax return, fix the income tax basis for whoever inherits, and settle any fair division among beneficiaries. The New Jersey step-up in basis guide explains how the date-of-death figure follows the asset to the beneficiary.

Watch for Assets the Trust Never Owned

A trust controls only what was retitled into it. If the settlor signed a deed to the trust but never recorded it, or opened a new brokerage account in an individual name years later, that asset is outside the trust. It passes under the pour-over will and through the County Surrogate, or by intestacy if there is no will. Check the deed, the account registrations, and the beneficiary designations item by item before you assume the trust holds anything. Funding is the step families miss most often, and the trust document guide covers how it was supposed to happen.

New Jersey probate is cheap and quick, so a small pour-over administration is an inconvenience rather than a crisis. Compare what the New Jersey probate timeline requires with what you can settle inside the trust.

Step 5: Manage the Property Prudently

Six sections define how you handle the property while you hold it:

• N.J.S.A. 3B:31-54 requires you to administer the trust in good faith, in accordance with its terms and purposes and the interests of the beneficiaries.
• N.J.S.A. 3B:31-55 requires undivided loyalty and administration solely in the beneficiaries' best interests. A sale, encumbrance, or other transaction touched by a conflict between your fiduciary role and your personal interest is voidable by an affected beneficiary unless the trust authorized it, the court approved it, or one of the statute's other exceptions applies. Stay out of any deal where you sit on both sides.
• N.J.S.A. 3B:31-56 requires you to act impartially among two or more beneficiaries when you invest, manage, and distribute, giving due regard to their respective interests.
• N.J.S.A. 3B:31-57 requires you to administer the trust as a prudent person would, considering its purposes, terms, distributional requirements, and other circumstances, exercising reasonable care, skill, and caution.
• N.J.S.A. 3B:31-58 allows only costs that are appropriate and reasonable in relation to the trust property, the trust purposes, and your skills.
• N.J.S.A. 3B:31-59 holds a trustee with special skills, or one named because of a claimed skill, to those skills.

You may hire help. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-60 lets a trustee delegate ministerial, administrative, and management duties a prudent trustee of comparable skills could properly delegate, so long as you use reasonable care, skill, and caution in selecting the agent, setting the scope of the work, and reviewing performance. A CPA for the fiduciary income tax return and an appraiser for the house are ordinary trust expenses, and N.J.S.A. 3B:31-53 entitles you to reimbursement out of the trust for expenses properly incurred, on top of the commissions N.J.S.A. 3B:18-2 et seq. allows.

Where the trust gives you discretion over distributions, N.J.S.A. 3B:31-68 still requires you to exercise it in good faith and in line with the trust's terms, purposes, and the beneficiaries' interests, no matter how broad words like "absolute" or "sole" look on the page. Discretionary language is the part of a trust worth reviewing with a New Jersey trust attorney before you write the first check.

Step 6: Pay Debts and the Inheritance Tax Before Anyone Gets Paid

A revocable trust is not a creditor shield. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-39(a)(3) provides that after the settlor's death, the property of a trust that was revocable at death is subject to claims of the settlor's creditors, the costs of administering the settlor's estate, the expenses of the funeral and disposal of remains, and claims of a surviving spouse or civil union partner and children, to the extent the probate estate cannot satisfy them. Settle the following before you distribute:

• Final medical bills, utilities, credit cards, and other valid debts
• The settlor's final federal and New Jersey income tax returns for the year of death
• A fiduciary income tax return for the trust if it earns enough after death
• The New Jersey Transfer Inheritance Tax on distributions to non-exempt beneficiaries

The Tax a Trust Does Not Avoid

New Jersey taxes on relationship, not size. N.J.S.A. 54:34-1 imposes the tax on a transfer of property worth $500.00 or over, "in trust or otherwise," and subsection c reaches property transferred by deed, grant, bargain, sale, or gift intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after the transferor's death. That language is what pulls a revocable trust distribution into the tax.

Rates come from N.J.S.A. 54:34-2 and the Division of Taxation:

New Jersey eliminated Class B. There is also no New Jersey estate tax for anyone who died on or after January 1, 2018.

Four rules make this a trustee problem and not just a paperwork problem:

1. N.J.S.A. 54:35-1 makes the tax due and payable at the death, and the Division requires the return and payment within eight months after the date of death. That is one month earlier than the federal estate tax deadline. Do not merge the two.
2. N.J.S.A. 54:35-3 charges 10% annual interest once eight months pass, reduced to 6% where claims against the estate, necessary litigation, or another unavoidable cause of delay prevents settlement, until the cause is removed.
3. N.J.S.A. 54:35-2 makes executors, administrators, trustees, grantees, donees, and vendees personally liable for the tax until it is paid. N.J.S.A. 54:35-4 requires a bond in double the amount of the tax where a trustee has not paid within eight months.
4. N.J.S.A. 54:35-5 keeps the tax a lien on all property the decedent owned at death for 15 years unless it is paid or bonded sooner.

Hold a reserve. If you distribute the trust and a Class D beneficiary's tax bill lands afterward, the Division has a statute that names you.

Waivers and Frozen Accounts

N.J.S.A. 54:35-19 bars a bank, savings bank, credit union, safe deposit company, trust company, or other party from delivering or transferring securities, deposits, or other assets that belong to or stand in the name of a resident decedent, or in joint names with one, without the Division Director's written consent. The Division issues that consent as a tax waiver it prints as Form 0-1, and only its Inheritance Tax Branch can issue one. Form L-8 is a self-executing substitute that certain Class A beneficiaries file directly with the bank or transfer agent to release financial assets, and it cannot move real property. The waiver rules sit at N.J.A.C. 18:26-11.1 through 11.25.

How a specific account gets released depends on how it was titled and on the bank's own reading of that section, so ask the bank what it wants in writing before you promise a beneficiary a date. Where a Class C or Class D beneficiary takes anything, file the return and get the waivers in hand first.

Step 7: Report, and Buy the Six-Month Clock

New Jersey asks for no routine accounting, and no periodic filing with any court. What it offers instead is a trade.

N.J.S.A. 3B:31-67(c) provides that a trustee seeking the protection of N.J.S.A. 3B:31-74 may give the beneficiaries a report of the trust property, liabilities, receipts, and disbursements, including the source and amount of the trustee's own compensation, a listing of the trust assets, and, where feasible, their market values.

Here is what the report buys. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-74(a) bars a beneficiary from starting a breach of trust proceeding more than six months after being sent a report that adequately disclosed the existence of a potential claim and told the beneficiary how long they had to sue. A report discloses adequately when it gives enough information that the beneficiary knows of the potential claim or should have inquired into it. Without a report, subsection c gives a beneficiary five years from the first of your removal, resignation, or death, the end of that beneficiary's interest, or the termination of the trust, and that five-year window does not start running against a beneficiary until they reach majority and know they are a beneficiary. Six months against five years is the whole argument for sending a report.

Two more closing tools sit outside the trust code. N.J.S.A. 3B:17-9 defines a nontestamentary trustee as an owner of property who holds title subject to equitable duties for another arising from an intention manifested in writing other than by will, which describes the successor trustee of a living trust. N.J.S.A. 3B:17-10 then gives that trustee the right to settle intermediate and final accounts in the Superior Court. Use it when a beneficiary will not sign off and you want a judgment rather than an argument. The New Jersey probate accounting guide walks the same machinery on the estate side.

Where everyone still gets along, N.J.S.A. 3B:31-11 lets interested persons enter a binding nonjudicial settlement agreement. Matters it can resolve include approving a trustee's report or accounting and setting a trustee's compensation. The agreement holds only where it does not violate a material purpose of the trust and contains terms a court could properly approve.

What a New Jersey Trustee Gets Paid

Trustee commissions do not come from the trust code. They come from N.J.S.A. 3B:18-23 through 3B:18-29, and that article defines a "fiduciary" as a trustee acting under a will, a nontestamentary trustee as defined in N.J.S.A. 3B:17-9, or a guardian. A living-trust successor trustee lands in that middle category. Do not use the executor commission percentages from N.J.S.A. 3B:18-14. They are a different schedule.

• Income: 6% of all income received, taken without a court allowance under N.J.S.A. 3B:18-24. Income withheld for tax counts as received.
• Annual corpus: $5.00 per $1,000 of corpus value on the first $400,000, and $3.00 per $1,000 above $400,000, under N.J.S.A. 3B:18-25. A trustee may take a minimum of $100.00 a year. A bank or savings and loan authorized to exercise fiduciary powers takes reasonable commissions instead of the per-thousand formula.
• Two or more trustees: N.J.S.A. 3B:18-25.1 adds one fifth of the single-trustee annual commission for each trustee past the first, and no single trustee may take more than a sole trustee would.
• On distribution: N.J.S.A. 3B:18-28 allows, in addition to annual commissions authorized but not actually taken, 2% of corpus distributed within 5 years of receipt, 1.5% between 5 and 10 years, and 1% more than 10 years after receipt, plus one fifth per additional trustee.
• Skipping a year: N.J.S.A. 3B:18-26 says failing to take a commission in one year does not waive it for a later year.
• Review: N.J.S.A. 3B:18-27 makes annual commissions reviewable on intermediate and final accountings, and excess amounts may be disallowed. N.J.S.A. 3B:18-25(e) lets a person interested in the trust ask a court to review reasonableness, though the trustee keeps at least the annual formula and the $100.00 minimum. N.J.S.A. 3B:18-29 lets a court allow more for unusual or extraordinary services.

Many family trustees waive the commission to leave more for the beneficiaries. If you take one, show the source and amount in your report, because N.J.S.A. 3B:31-67(c) lists that line by name.

Step 8: Distribute and Close the Trust

N.J.S.A. 3B:31-70(a) requires you to proceed expeditiously to distribute the trust property to the persons entitled to it once a terminating event happens, subject to your right to retain a reasonable reserve for debts, expenses, and taxes.

Subsection b gives you a step most trustees skip. You may mail or deliver a proposal for distribution to everyone with a right to object. The proposal has to tell them they may object, that the objection must be in writing, and that you must receive it within 30 days after mailing or delivery. A person's right to object on the basis of the kind or value of the asset they or another beneficiary receives ends if no written objection reaches you inside those 30 days. For a trust dividing a house, a brokerage account, and a coin collection among three siblings, that 30-day proposal is worth more than any conversation.

Then work the list:

• Make specific gifts first, the named items and dollar amounts.
• Distribute the residue to the residuary beneficiaries.
• Keep any sub-trust running on its own terms, such as a fund for a minor or a staged distribution.
• Record a trustee's deed with the county clerk or register of deeds and mortgages where real property sits.
• Get a signed receipt from every beneficiary for everything you hand over.

One more rule governs this exact step when the trust was revocable at the settlor's death. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-45(b) lets you go ahead and distribute after the settlor dies, and protects you from liability for doing so, unless you know a contest is pending, or a potential contestant sent you written notice of a possible contest and then actually started a proceeding within 90 days of that notification. So a written warning alone does not freeze you, and a warning followed by a filing inside 90 days does. If either applies, stop and get advice before you distribute. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-45(c) covers the other side: a beneficiary of a trust later held invalid is liable to return what they received.

Before the last dollar leaves, confirm no surviving spouse has an elective share claim to satisfy. New Jersey's elective share can reach assets held in a revocable trust, and the New Jersey surviving spouse rights guide explains when it applies and how it is measured. Creditor timing on the probate side, which matters when a pour-over estate runs beside the trust, sits in the New Jersey creditor claims guide.

How the Trust Fits the Rest of the Plan

A trust holds and moves property. It does nothing about health care, and nothing about assets left outside it. A New Jersey power of attorney covers property the trust does not hold while the settlor is alive. A valid New Jersey will, usually a pour-over will, catches what never got retitled. The New Jersey estate planning basics guide ties the documents together, and the New Jersey guide to avoiding probate is honest about how small the probate savings are in a state with a $100 or $125 Surrogate fee. If the trust holds a fund for an animal, the New Jersey pet trusts guide covers the enforcer's rights.

The Bottom Line

New Jersey trust administration runs on the Uniform Trust Code at N.J.S.A. 3B:31 and on two statutes outside it. Accept the trusteeship under 3B:31-46 or renounce it in writing. Take control of the property under 3B:31-63 and keep clean, separate records under 3B:31-64. Keep the qualified beneficiaries informed under 3B:31-67, on a schedule you set, because the statute sets none. Manage prudently under 3B:31-57. Pay the settlor's debts and the Transfer Inheritance Tax within eight months, remembering that 54:35-2 names trustees personally. Send a report to start the six-month clock in 3B:31-74. Then distribute under 3B:31-70, using the 30-day proposal, and take receipts. Take your commissions from 3B:18-24 and 3B:18-25, never from the executor schedule. For a discretionary distribution, a contested report, or a real property transfer, a licensed New Jersey trust attorney is money well spent.

Common Questions

Does a New Jersey trust go through the County Surrogate?

A funded trust does not. You administer it yourself under the New Jersey Uniform Trust Code, with no Surrogate file and no judge. The Surrogate still comes into it for anything the settlor never retitled, since a pour-over will has to be probated to move those assets into the trust. A trustee who wants court approval may ask for it: N.J.S.A. 3B:17-10 gives a nontestamentary trustee the right to settle intermediate and final accounts in the Superior Court.

How long does a New Jersey trustee have to notify beneficiaries?

New Jersey sets no notice deadline in its trustee-disclosure statute. Its version of the trust code dropped the 60-day and 90-day notice letters that states like Maryland require. A separate statute still matters, though: N.J.S.A. 3B:31-45(a) shortens the window to contest a formerly revocable trust to four months for a resident, or six months for a nonresident, but only if the trustee sends a copy of the trust instrument together with a notice stating the trust exists, the trustee name and address, and the time allowed to sue. Without that letter the contest window runs three years from the death. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-67 instead imposes a continuing duty to keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration and about the material facts they need to protect their interests, plus a prompt response to a request for information and a copy of the trust instrument on request.

Does a New Jersey trustee have to file an accounting?

No formal accounting is required. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:31-67(c) a trustee seeking the protection of N.J.S.A. 3B:31-74 may provide beneficiaries a report of trust property, liabilities, receipts, and disbursements, the source and amount of the trustee's compensation, and a list of assets with market values where that is feasible. Sending one starts a six-month clock on breach of trust claims that the report adequately disclosed.

Does a revocable trust avoid New Jersey inheritance tax?

It does not. N.J.S.A. 54:34-1 taxes transfers of $500.00 or over "in trust or otherwise," and subsection c reaches a transfer intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after the transferor's death. A distribution to a Class C or Class D beneficiary is taxable whether it comes from a will or from a trust. N.J.S.A. 54:35-2 makes trustees personally liable for the tax until it is paid.

What does a New Jersey successor trustee get paid?

N.J.S.A. 3B:18-23 covers a trustee under a will and a nontestamentary trustee, which includes the successor trustee of a written living trust. N.J.S.A. 3B:18-24 allows 6% of all income received without a court allowance. N.J.S.A. 3B:18-25 allows annual corpus commissions of $5.00 per $1,000 on the first $400,000 of corpus value and $3.00 per $1,000 above that, with a $100.00 annual minimum. N.J.S.A. 3B:18-28 adds 2% of corpus distributed within 5 years of receipt, 1.5% between 5 and 10 years, and 1% after 10 years.

This guide is general information about New Jersey trusts. It is not legal advice. Confirm anything that affects your situation with the New Jersey Division of Taxation, your County Surrogate, or a licensed New Jersey attorney who handles trusts and estates.

Sources:

• Title: N.J.S.A. 3B:31-3, 3B:31-9, 3B:31-10, 3B:31-11, 3B:31-39, 3B:31-46, 3B:31-49, 3B:31-53, 3B:31-54, 3B:31-55, 3B:31-56, 3B:31-57, 3B:31-58, 3B:31-59, 3B:31-60, 3B:31-63, 3B:31-64, 3B:31-67, 3B:31-68, 3B:31-70, 3B:31-74, 3B:31-81 and 3B:31-84, the New Jersey Uniform Trust Code, each section read in full. Publisher: New Jersey Legislature, Office of Legislative Services. Publication Date: New Jersey General and Permanent Statutes, official full-text publication updated through P.L.2025, c.346, sections read July 30, 2026. URL: https://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/nxt/gateway.dll/statutes/1?f=templates&fn=default.htm&vid=Publish:10.1048/Enu
• Title: P.L.2015, c.276, the New Jersey Uniform Trust Code, approved January 19, 2016 and effective on the 180th day following enactment, with the enacted section headings for N.J.S.A. 3B:31-1 through 3B:31-84. Publisher: New Jersey Legislature. Publication Date: Approved January 19, 2016, read July 30, 2026. URL: https://pub.njleg.state.nj.us/Bills/2014/PL15/276_.PDF
• Title: N.J.S.A. 3B:17-9 nontestamentary trustee defined, 3B:17-10 settling accounts in the Superior Court, and 3B:18-23 through 3B:18-29 fiduciary income commissions, annual corpus commissions, multiple fiduciaries, corpus commissions on termination, and extraordinary services. Publisher: New Jersey Legislature, Office of Legislative Services. Publication Date: New Jersey General and Permanent Statutes, official full-text publication updated through P.L.2025, c.346, sections read July 30, 2026. URL: https://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/nxt/gateway.dll/statutes/1?f=templates&fn=default.htm&vid=Publish:10.1048/Enu
• Title: N.J.S.A. 54:34-1 transfers taxable including subsection c, 54:34-2 transfer inheritance tax rates, 54:35-1 date the tax is due, 54:35-2 personal liability of trustees, 54:35-3 interest, 54:35-4 bond where payment is delayed, 54:35-5 the 15-year lien, and 54:35-19 transfer of assets. Publisher: New Jersey Legislature, Office of Legislative Services. Publication Date: New Jersey General and Permanent Statutes, official full-text publication updated through P.L.2025, c.346, sections read July 30, 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 Division of Taxation, Department of the Treasury. Publication Date: Not listed, rate schedule read July 30, 2026. URL: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/inheritance-estate/tax-rates.shtml
• Title: Inheritance Tax Beneficiary Classes. Publisher: New Jersey Division of Taxation, Department of the Treasury. Publication Date: Not listed, class membership read July 30, 2026. URL: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/other_forms/inheritance/transferinheritanceclasses.pdf
• Title: Tax Waiver Requirements, citing N.J.S.A. 54:35-5 and 54:35-19, Form 0-1, Form L-8, and N.J.A.C. 18:26-11.1 through 11.25. Publisher: New Jersey Division of Taxation, Department of the Treasury. Publication Date: Not listed, read July 30, 2026. URL: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/inheritance-estate/estatetax.shtml
• Title: Inheritance and Estate Tax, stating that New Jersey Estate Tax is no longer imposed for individuals who died on or after January 1, 2018. Publisher: New Jersey Division of Taxation, Department of the Treasury. Publication Date: Last updated September 9, 2025, read July 30, 2026. URL: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/inheritance-estate/inheritance.shtml
• Title: General Information, Inheritance and Estate Tax, Form O-10-C, stating the eight-month return and payment deadline and the Class C and Class D rate schedules. Publisher: New Jersey Division of Taxation, Department of the Treasury. Publication Date: Revision 13, January 2017, read July 30, 2026. URL: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/other_forms/inheritance/o10c.pdf
• Title: Order Vital Records, New Jersey certified death certificate ordering methods and requirements. Publisher: New Jersey Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed July 30, 2026. URL: https://www.nj.gov/health/vital/order-vital/
• Title: Employer Identification Number. Publisher: Internal Revenue Service. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed July 30, 2026. URL: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/employer-identification-number
• Title: New Jersey Surrogates Roster, directory of the 21 County Surrogates. Publisher: New Jersey Courts. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed July 30, 2026. URL: https://www.njcourts.gov/public/directories/court-services/county-surrogates

It is not legal advice.