New Jersey: Estate Inventory and Appraisement Requirements
The short answer
New Jersey does not require every personal representative to file an inventory. Filing is optional unless the court requires it or the $5,000 family exemption is being set off; a filed inventory must be full and specific, proved by the representative's oath, and accompanied by an appraisal by two discreet and impartial people. The court cannot require ordinary filing until three months after letters, while an exemption inventory and appraisal must be made within three months; the statute states no general completion deadline, valuation date, private-delivery rule, confidentiality rule, or supplement procedure.
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This is the general rule in New Jersey. Ask about your specific facts and see which parts of current New Jersey law apply, with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and administration type | Title 3B ordinary-estate inventory; optional unless court-required or needed for family exemption (§ 3B:16-2) |
|---|---|
| Who prepares, signs, and verifies | Personal representative inventories; filed inventory proved by representative's oath and appraiser oath(s) (§ 3B:16-6) |
| Deadline, trigger, and extension | No ordinary completion deadline; court cannot demand filing until 3 months after letters; exemption route is due within 3 months (§ 3B:16-2) |
| Court filing or private delivery | Optional filing unless court-required or exemption route; filed with surrogate or Superior Court clerk; no private-delivery rule (§§ 3B:16-2, -6) |
| Property scope, exclusions, and encumbrances | Real and personal property in representative's hands/knowledge and all property decedent died seized and possessed; full and specific; no encumbrance rule (§§ 3B:16-1, -2, -4) |
| Valuation date and method | Just and true or true intrinsic value, without public-sale reference; no valuation date stated (§§ 3B:16-3, -6) |
| Appraiser requirement and qualifications | Filed appraisal uses 2 discreet, impartial appraisers; representative chooses subject to approval, but exemption appraisers are court-appointed, uninterested, and unrelated (§§ 3B:16-2, -3) |
| Recipients, confidentiality, and access | Sections 3B:16-1 to -7 state no copy, notice, recipient, confidentiality, or inspection rule; filed oath is lodged with surrogate or clerk (§ 3B:16-6) |
| Correction, supplementation, and noncompliance | Sections 3B:16-1 to -7 state no amendment, supplement, reappraisal, correction deadline, or inventory-specific penalty |
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Requirements one by one
When an inventory becomes mandatory
N.J. Stat. § 3B:16-2 does not impose routine filing in every estate. A personal
representative may make and file an inventory, but must do so if the court
requires it or if the family exemption under § 3B:16-5 is being set off.
The timing language treats those branches differently. For an ordinary court
requirement, the court cannot demand filing until three months after letters
were granted. That is an earliest-demand rule, not a statutory deadline to file
every inventory at the three-month mark. When the family exemption is being set
off, the inventory and appraisal instead must be made within three months.
Contents, property scope, and value
N.J. Stat. § 3B:16-1 says an inventory cannot be received or proved unless it is
“full and specific in its details.” Section 3B:16-2 describes a true and perfect
inventory of real and personal property that has come into the representative's
hands, possession, or knowledge, including property another person holds for the
representative. Section 3B:16-4 directs the appraisers to inventory and appraise
all real and personal property of which the decedent died seized and possessed.
The valuation rule is not fair market value as of death. N.J. Stat. § 3B:16-3
requires true and intrinsic value without reference to what the property might
bring at a public sale, while § 3B:16-6 calls the filed values just and true
according to the appraiser's best judgment. Sections 3B:16-1 through -7 state no
valuation date, encumbrance disclosure, net-value calculation, or attachment
requirement.
Two appraisers and the approval routes
A filed inventory is paired with an appraisal by two discreet and impartial
people under N.J. Stat. § 3B:16-2. Ordinarily, § 3B:16-3 lets the personal
representative choose them subject to approval by the Superior Court or
surrogate.
The family-exemption route is more specific. The representative applies to the
surrogate of the county where the decedent resided at death, or to the Superior
Court, for appointment of two appraisers. They cannot be interested in the
estate or related to the decedent's widow or child. Before beginning, each is
sworn to act faithfully, honestly, and impartially and to use the statutory
intrinsic-value measure.
Oaths and filing location
N.J. Stat. § 3B:16-6 requires the personal representative to prove a filed
inventory by oath that it is just and true. The appraisers, or one appraiser,
also swear that the listed real and personal property was appraised at just and
true values according to their best judgment. If only one appraiser takes that
proof oath, the inventory must add that the other was present and consented to
the valuation and appraisal.
The oaths are taken before a person qualified to administer oaths in New Jersey,
endorsed on the inventory, and filed with the surrogate or Superior Court clerk.
If family property was set off, the executor or administrator also verifies the
selection list by oath and files it with the inventory.
What the chapter does not supply
N.J. Stat. §§ 3B:16-1 through -7 state no requirement to deliver copies to
heirs, beneficiaries, or creditors and no special confidentiality, sealing,
redaction, inspection, or appraisal-explanation right. Court filing should not
be converted into an assumed private-delivery or unrestricted-public-access
rule.
The same sections contain no express route for an amended or supplemental
inventory, later-discovered property, correction of a description or value,
reappraisal, correction deadline, or inventory-specific penalty. A court order
and other probate law may matter in a particular case, but those rules are not
stated in this inventory chapter.
What trips people up
Three months does not operate as one universal deadline. For an ordinary
court-required inventory, the statute prevents the court from requiring filing
before that point. Only the family-exemption branch expressly requires the
inventory and appraisal to be made within three months.
Outside appraisers are part of the filed-inventory framework. The statute does
not let the representative file only self-assigned values and omit the two
appraisers.
The appraisal measure is intrinsic value without reference to a public-sale
price. The chapter does not substitute a date-of-death fair-market-value rule or
say that encumbrances should be subtracted to produce one net figure.
Common questions
Must every New Jersey estate file an inventory?
No. N.J. Stat. § 3B:16-2 makes filing optional unless the court requires it or
the family exemption is being set off.
Who chooses the appraisers?
For an ordinary filed inventory, the personal representative chooses them
subject to Superior Court or surrogate approval. For the family exemption, the
surrogate or Superior Court appoints two people who are neither interested in
the estate nor related to the decedent's widow or child.
Does the statute require both appraisers to swear the filed proof?
Section 3B:16-6 permits one appraiser to take that proof oath if the inventory
adds that the other appraiser was present and consented to the valuation and
appraisal. Section 3B:16-3 separately requires each appraiser to be sworn before
beginning the appointment.
Is the $5,000 family exemption automatic?
N.J. Stat. § 3B:16-5 describes the qualifying family property, and N.J. Stat.
§ 3B:16-7 provides for its selection from the completed inventory. When that
set-off is used, the special three-month, court-appointed-appraiser,
verified-list, and filing rules apply.
Statutes and sources
- N.J. Stat. § 3B:16-1 — full and specific inventory details. Official
current-code search result: https://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/nxt/gateway.dll?xhitlist_vq=3B%3A16-1.+General+requisites&f=xhitlist
(accessed 2026-08-10). - N.J. Stat. § 3B:16-2 — optional and mandatory filing branches, covered
property, two appraisers, and the separate three-month rules. Official
current-code search result: https://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/nxt/gateway.dll?xhitlist_vq=3B%3A16-2.+Inventory+and+appraisal+to+be+made+and+filed&f=xhitlist
(accessed 2026-08-10). - N.J. Stat. § 3B:16-3 — selection, approval, exemption-route
qualifications, oath, and intrinsic-value method. Official current-code
search result: https://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/nxt/gateway.dll?xhitlist_vq=3B%3A16-3.+Appointment+of+appraisers&f=xhitlist
(accessed 2026-08-10). - N.J. Stat. § 3B:16-4 — property appraised. Official current-code search
result: https://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/nxt/gateway.dll?xhitlist_vq=3B%3A16-4.+Property+to+be+included+in+inventory+and+appraisal&f=xhitlist
(accessed 2026-08-10). - N.J. Stat. §§ 3B:16-5 to -7 — family exemption, inventory proof,
appraiser proof, filing location, and selection list. Official current-code
searches: https://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/nxt/gateway.dll?xhitlist_vq=3B%3A16-5.+Exemption+for+benefit+of+decedent%27s+family&f=xhitlist
and https://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/nxt/gateway.dll?xhitlist_vq=3B%3A16-6.+Proof+of+inventory+and+exempt+list&f=xhitlist
and https://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/nxt/gateway.dll?xhitlist_vq=3B%3A16-7.+Selection+of+property+to+be+exempted&f=xhitlist
(accessed 2026-08-10).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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