Elective Share is Needs Based and Presumption that Joint Account Passes to Survivor is Rebuttable
In re Estate of Giordano, No. P-085-18 (Ch. Div. June 10, 2019).
The court highlighted two propositions: (1) New Jersey’s elective share statute is needs based and can be awarded upon a finding that the election is necessary to provide adequate support of the surviving spouse during her probable life expectancy; and (2) the New Jersey Multiple Party Deposit Account Act creates a presumption that funds on deposit at the time of a decedent’s death are to pass to the surviving party, but evidence may rebut that presumption under N.J.S.A. 17:16I-5(a).