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Current as of January 01, 2024 | Updated by Findlaw Staff
As used in this act, unless restricted by the subject or context:
a. “Administrator” includes general administrators of an intestate and unless restricted by the subject or context, administrators with the will annexed, substituted administrators, substituted administrators with the will annexed, temporary administrators and administrators pendente lite.
b. “Child” means any individual, including a natural or adopted child, entitled to take by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved and excludes any person who is only a stepchild, a foster child, a grandchild or any more remote descendant.
c. “Claims” includes liabilities whether arising in contract, or in tort or otherwise, and liabilities of the estate which arise at or after the death of the decedent, including funeral expenses and expenses of administration, but does not include estate or inheritance taxes, demands or disputes regarding title to specific assets alleged to be included in the estate.
d. “Cofiduciary” means each of two or more fiduciaries jointly serving in a fiduciary capacity.
e. “Devise,” when used as a noun, means a testamentary disposition of real or personal property and when used as a verb, means to dispose of real or personal property by will.
f. “Devisee” means any person designated in a will to receive a devise. In the case of a devise to an existing trust or trustee, or to a trustee on trust described by will, trust or trustee is the devisee and the beneficiaries are not devisees.
g. “Distributee” means any person who has received property of a decedent from his personal representative other than as a creditor or purchaser. A trustee is a distributee only to the extent of a distributed asset or increment thereto remaining in his hands. A beneficiary of a trust to whom the trustee has distributed property received from a personal representative is a distributee of the personal representative.
h. “Domiciliary foreign fiduciary” means any fiduciary who has received letters, or has been appointed, or is authorized to act as a fiduciary, in the jurisdiction in which the decedent was domiciled at the time of his death, in which the ward is domiciled or in which is located the principal place of the administration of a trust.
i. “Estate” means all of the property of the decedent, trust or other person whose affairs are subject to this act as the property is originally constituted and as it exists from time to time during administration.
j. “Fiduciary” includes executors, general administrators of an intestate, 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.
k. “Heirs” means those persons, including the surviving spouse, who are entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a decedent.
l. “Issue” of a person includes all of his lineal descendants, natural or adopted, of all generations, with the relationship of parent and child at each generation being determined by the definition of child and parent.
m. “Local administration” means administration by a personal representative appointed in this State.
n. “Local fiduciary” means any fiduciary who has received letters in this State and excludes foreign fiduciaries who acquire the power of local fiduciary pursuant to this act.
o. “Nonresident decedent” means a decedent who was domiciled in another jurisdiction at the time of his death.
p. “Parent” means any person entitled to take or would be entitled to take if the child, natural or adopted, died without a will, by intestate succession from the child whose relationship is in question and excludes any person who is a stepparent, foster parent or grandparent.
q. “Personal representative” includes executor, administrator, successor personal representative, special administrator, and persons who perform substantially the same function under the law governing their status. “General personal representative” excludes special administrator.
r. “Resident creditor” means a person domiciled in, or doing business in this State, who is, or could be, a claimant against an estate.
s. “Security” includes any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, mortgage, financing statement, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in an oil, gas or mining title or lease or in payments out of production under such a title or lease, collateral trust certificate, transferable share, voting trust certificate or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a security or as a security interest or any certificate of interest or participation, any temporary or interim certificate, receipt or certificate of deposit for, or any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing.
t. “Successor personal representative” means a personal representative, other than a special administrator, who is appointed to succeed a previously appointed personal representative.
u. “Successors” means those persons, other than creditors, who are entitled to real and personal property of a decedent under his will or the laws governing intestate succession.
v. “Testamentary trustee” means a trustee designated by will or appointed to exercise a trust created by will.
w. “Will” means the last will and testament of the testator and includes any codicil.
Cite this article: FindLaw.com - New Jersey Statutes Appendix - Former Title 3A Administration of Estates Decedents and Others 3A § 2A-1 - last updated January 01, 2024 | https://codes.findlaw.com/nj/appendix-former-title-3a-administration-of-estates-decedents-and-others/nj-st-sect-3a-2a-1/
FindLaw Codes may not reflect the most recent version of the law in your jurisdiction. Please verify the status of the code you are researching with the state legislature before relying on it for your legal needs.
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