Need help with a review of a will?
Have it reviewed by a lawyer, get answers to your questions and move forward with confidence.
Connect with a lawyer now

Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 3B:9-4

  • Estate: means all of the property of a decedent, minor or incapacitated individual, trust or other person whose affairs are subject to this title as the property is originally constituted and as it exists from time to time during administration. See New Jersey Statutes 3B:1-1
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Fiduciary: includes executors, general administrators of an intestate estate, administrators with the will annexed, substituted administrators, substituted administrators with the will annexed, guardians, substituted guardians, trustees, substituted trustees and, unless restricted by the subject or context, temporary administrators, administrators pendente lite, administrators ad prosequendum, administrators ad litem and other limited fiduciaries. See New Jersey Statutes 3B:1-1
  • Governing instrument: means a deed, will, trust, insurance or annuity policy, account with the designation "pay on death" (POD) or "transfer on death" (TOD), security registered in beneficiary form with the designation "pay on death" (POD) or "transfer on death" (TOD), pension, profit-sharing, retirement or similar benefit plan, instrument creating or exercising a power of appointment or a power of attorney, or a dispositive, appointive, or nominative instrument of any similar type. See New Jersey Statutes 3B:1-1
  • Heirs: means those persons, including, but not limited to, the surviving spouse, the domestic partner and the descendants of the decedent, who are entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a decedent. See New Jersey Statutes 3B:1-1
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
3B:9-4. a. A fiduciary or agent acting on behalf of a principal within the express, general or implied authority of a power of attorney, may disclaim property or any interest therein.

b. Except as provided in subsection c. of this section, such disclaimer shall not be effective unless, prior thereto, the fiduciary or agent has been authorized to disclaim by the court having jurisdiction over the fiduciary or the principal after finding that such disclaimer is advisable and will not materially prejudice the rights of: (1) creditors, devisees, heirs or beneficiaries of the estate; (2) beneficiaries of the trust; or (3) the minor, the incapacitated individual, the conservatee or the principal for whom such fiduciary or agent acts.

c. If the governing instrument expressly authorizes the fiduciary or the agent to disclaim, the disclaimer by the fiduciary or agent shall be effective without court authorization.

Amended 2004, c.132, s.66.