Title 30A, Uniform Probate Code

§560:2-208 Exclusions, valuation, and overlapping application. (a) Exclusions: (b) Valuation. The value of property: (c) Overlapping application; no double inclusion. In case of overlapping application to the same property of the paragraphs or subparagraphs of section 560:2-205, …

§560:2-209 Sources from which elective share payable. (a) Elective-share amount only. In a proceeding for an elective share, the following shall be applied first to satisfy the elective-share amount and to reduce or eliminate any contributions due from the decedent's probate esta…

§560:2-210 Personal liability of recipients. (a) Only original recipients of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, and the donees of the recipients of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, to the extent the donees have the property or its proceeds, are liable to…

§560:2-211 Proceeding for elective share; time limit. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the election must be made by filing in the court and mailing or delivering to the personal representative, if any, a petition for the elective share within nine months after the date o…

§560:2-212 Right of election personal to surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary; incapacitated surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary. (a) Surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary must be living at time of election. The right of election may be exercised only by a survi…

§560:2-213 Waiver of right to elect and of other rights. (a) The right of election of a surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary and the rights of the surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary to homestead allowance, exempt property, and family allowance, or any of them, may b…

§560:2-214 Protection of payors and other third parties. (a) Although under section 560:2-205 a payment, item of property, or other benefit is included in the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, a payor or other third party is not liable for having made a payment or transf…

PART 3. SPOUSE AND CHILDREN UNPROVIDED FOR IN WILLS §560:2-301 Entitlement of spouse or reciprocal beneficiary; premarital will. (a) If a testator's surviving spouse married the testator, or the testator's reciprocal beneficiary entered into a reciprocal beneficiary relationship …

§560:2-302 Omitted children. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), if a testator fails to provide in the testator's will for any of the testator's children born or adopted after the execution of the will, the omitted after-born or after-adopted child shall receive a share in …

PART 4. EXEMPT PROPERTY AND ALLOWANCES §560:2-401 Applicable law. This part applies to the estate of a decedent who dies domiciled in this State. Rights to homestead allowance, exempt property, and family allowance for a decedent who dies not domiciled in this State are governed …

§560:2-402 Homestead allowance. A decedent's surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary shall be entitled to a homestead allowance of $30,000. If there is no surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, each minor child and each dependent child of the decedent shall be entitled to…

§560:2-403 Exempt property. In addition to the homestead allowance, the decedent's surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary shall be entitled from the estate to a value, not exceeding $20,000 in excess of any security interests therein, in household furniture, automobiles, furn…

§560:2-404 Family allowance. (a) In addition to the right to homestead allowance and exempt property, the decedent's surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary and minor children whom the decedent was obligated to support and children who were in fact being supported by the deced…

§560:2-405 Source, determination, and documentation. (a) If the estate is otherwise sufficient, property specifically devised shall not be used to satisfy rights to homestead allowance or exempt property. Subject to this restriction, the surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary…

PART 5. WILLS, WILL CONTRACTS, AND CUSTODY AND DEPOSIT OF WILLS §560:2-501 Who may make will. An individual eighteen or more years of age who is of sound mind may make a will. [L 1996, c 288, pt of §1]

§560:2-502 Execution; witnessed wills; holographic wills. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b) and in sections 560:2-503, 560:2-506, and 560:2-513, a will must be: (b) A will that does not comply with subsection (a) is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if…

§560:2-503 Writings intended as wills, etc. Although a document or writing added upon a document was not executed in compliance with section 560:2-502, the document or writing is treated as if it had been executed in compliance with that section if the proponent of the document o…

§560:2-504 Self-proved will. (a) A will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved, by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in which execu…

§560:2-505 Who may witness. (a) An individual generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will. (b) The signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it, including any gift to or appointment of the witness. [L 1996, …

§560:2-506 Choice of law as to execution. A written will is valid if executed in compliance with section 560:2-502 or 560:2-503 or if its execution complies with the law at the time of execution of the place where the will is executed, or of the law of the place where at the time…

§560:2-507 Revocation by writing or by act. (a) A will or any part thereof is revoked by: (b) If a subsequent will does not expressly revoke a previous will, the execution of the subsequent will wholly revokes the previous will by inconsistency if the testator intended the subseq…

§560:2-508 Revocation by change of circumstances. Except as provided in sections 560:2-803 and 560:2-804, a change of circumstances does not revoke a will or any part of it. [L 1996, c 288, pt of §1]

§560:2-509 Revival of revoked will. (a) If a subsequent will that wholly revoked a previous will is thereafter revoked by a revocatory act under section 560:2-507(a)(2), the previous will remains revoked unless it is revived. The previous will is revived if it is evident from the…

§560:2-510 Incorporation by reference. A writing in existence when a will is executed may be incorporated by reference if the language of the will manifests this intent and describes the writing sufficiently to permit its identification. [L 1996, c 288, pt of §1]

§560:2-511 Testamentary additions to trusts. (a) A will may validly devise property to the trustee of a trust established or to be established: The devise is not invalid because the trust is amendable or revocable, or because the trust was amended after the execution of the will …

§560:2-512 Events of independent significance. A will may dispose of property by reference to acts and events that have significance apart from their effect upon the dispositions made by the will, whether they occur before or after the execution of the will or before or after the…

§560:2-513 Separate writing identifying devise of certain types of tangible personal property. Whether or not the provisions relating to holographic wills apply, a will may refer to a written statement or list to dispose of items of tangible personal property not otherwise specif…

§560:2-514 Contracts concerning succession. A contract to make a will or devise, or not to revoke a will or devise, or to die intestate, if executed after January 1, 1997, may be established only by: The execution of a joint will or mutual wills shall not create a presumption of …

§560:2-516 Duty of custodian of will; liability. After the death of a testator and on request of an interested person, a person having custody of a will of the testator shall either deliver it with reasonable promptness to a person able to secure its probate or if none is known, …

§560:2-517 Penalty clause for contest. A provision in a will purporting to penalize an interested person for contesting the will or instituting other proceedings relating to the estate is unenforceable if probable cause exists for instituting proceedings. [L 1996, c 288, pt of §1…

PART 6. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION APPLICABLE ONLY TO WILLS §560:2-601 Scope. In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention, the rules of construction in this part control the construction of a will. [L 1996, c 288, pt of §1]

§560:2-602 Will may pass all property and after-acquired property. A will may provide for the passage of all property the testator owns at death and all property acquired by the estate after the testator's death. [L 1996, c 288, pt of §1]

§560:2-603 Antilapse; deceased devisee; class gifts. (a) Definitions. In this section: "Alternative devise" means a devise that is expressly created by the will and, under the terms of the will, can take effect instead of another devise on the happening of one or more events, inc…

§560:2-604 Failure of testamentary provision. (a) Except as provided in section 560:2-603, a devise, other than a residuary devise, that fails for any reason becomes a part of the residue. (b) Except as provided in section 560:2-603, if the residue is devised to two or more perso…

§560:2-605 Increase in securities; accessions. (a) If a testator executes a will that devises securities and the testator then owned securities that meet the description in the will, the devise includes additional securities owned by the testator at death to the extent the additi…

§560:2-606 Nonademption of specific devises; unpaid proceeds of sale, condemnation, or insurance; sale by conservator or agent. (a) A specific devisee shall have a right to the specifically devised property in the testator's estate at death and: (b) If specifically devised proper…

§560:2-607 Nonexoneration. A specific devise passes subject to any mortgage interest existing at the date of death, without right of exoneration, regardless of a general directive in the will to pay debts. [L 1996, c 288, pt of §1]

§560:2-608 Exercise of power of appointment. In the absence of a requirement that a power of appointment be exercised by a reference or specific reference, to the power, a general residuary clause in a will, or a will making general disposition of all of the testator's property, …

§560:2-609 Ademption by satisfaction. (a) Property a testator gave in the testator's lifetime to a person is treated as a satisfaction of a devise in whole or in part, only if: (b) For purposes of partial satisfaction, property given during lifetime is valued as of the time the d…

PART 7. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION APPLICABLE TO WILLS AND OTHER GOVERNING INSTRUMENTS §560:2-701 Scope. In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention, the rules of construction in this part control the construction of a governing instrument. The rules of construction in this pa…

§560:2-702 Requirement of survival by one hundred twenty hours. (a) Requirement of survival by one hundred twenty hours under probate code. For the purposes of this chapter, except as provided in subsection (d), an individual who is not established by clear and convincing evidenc…

§560:2-703 Choice of law as to meaning and effect of governing instrument. The meaning and legal effect of a governing instrument is determined by the local law of the state selected in the governing instrument, unless the application of that law is contrary to the provisions rel…

§560:2-704 Power of appointment; meaning of specific reference requirement. A powerholder's substantial compliance with a formal requirement of appointment imposed in a governing instrument by the donor, including a requirement that the instrument exercising the power of appointm…

§560:2-705 Class gifts construed to accord with intestate succession. (a) Adopted individuals and individuals born out of wedlock, and their respective descendants if appropriate to the class, are included in class gifts and other terms of relationship in accordance with the rule…

§560:2-706 Life insurance; retirement plan; transfer-on-death registration; deceased beneficiary. (a) Definitions. In this section: "Alternative beneficiary designation" means a beneficiary designation that is expressly created by the governing instrument and, under the terms of …

§560:2-707 Survivorship with respect to future interests under terms of trust; substitute takers. (a) Definitions. In this section: "Alternative future interest" means an expressly created future interest that can take effect in possession or enjoyment instead of another future i…

§560:2-708 Class gifts to "descendants", "issue", or "heirs of the body"; form of distribution if none specified. If a class gift in favor of "descendants", "issue", or "heirs of the body" does not specify the manner in which the property is to be distributed among the class memb…

§560:2-709 Representation; per capita at each generation; per stirpes. (a) Definitions. In this section: "Deceased child" or "deceased descendant" means a child or a descendant who either predeceased the distribution date or is deemed to have predeceased the distribution date und…

§560:2-710 Worthier-title doctrine abolished. The doctrine of worthier title is abolished as a rule of law and as a rule of construction. Language in a governing instrument describing the beneficiaries of a disposition as the transferor's "heirs", "heirs at law", "next of kin", "…

§560:2-711 Interest in "heirs" and like. If an applicable statute or a governing instrument calls for a present or future distribution to or creates a present or future interest in a designated individual's "heirs", "heirs at law", "next of kin", "relatives", or "family", or lang…