New Jersey timeline
New Jersey probate timeline: when creditor claims close
The waiting-period requirement has not been verified, so no number is published below.
In New Jersey, a sworn written claim is due within nine months of the death; each clock is set out below against the event it runs from.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Sources rechecked October 3, 2026. This page last revised .
The one date this page can source
No waiting-period number is published for the affidavit for assets without administration (intestate estate) route. Neither enacted affidavit section states a waiting period. Read: N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3 and 3B:10-4; selected county Surrogate.
Source: P.L.2015, c.232; N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3 and 3B:10-4, P.L.2015, c.232(New Jersey Legislature; Approved January 19, 2016.).
The section’s own words
Where the total value of the real and personal assets of the estate of an intestate will not exceed $50,000, the surviving spouse, partner in a civil union, or domestic partner upon the execution of an affidavit before the Surrogate of the county where the intestate resided at his death, or, if then nonresident in this State, where any of the assets are located, or before the Superior Court, shall be entitled absolutely to all the real and personal assets without administration, and the assets of the estate up to $10,000 shall be free from all debts of the intestate.
Creditor deadlines
- Outer limit, running from death
- Nine months from the decedent’s death to present a written sworn claim; protection concerns assets distributed before presentation.
How these combine. Written sworn claims are to be presented within nine months from death. This rule runs from death, not from publication or appointment, and it protects distributions made before a late claim rather than simply cancelling the claim. The section cited sets no separate deadline tied to publication, actual notice or appointment.
Source: P.L.2004, c.132, §84; N.J.S.A. 3B:22-4, P.L.2004, c.132(New Jersey Legislature; Approved August 31, 2004.).
The section’s own words
Creditors of the decedent shall present their claims to the personal representative of the decedent's estate in writing and under oath, specifying the amount claimed and the particulars of the claim, within nine months from the date of the decedent's death.
New Jersey runs nine months from death, not from a published notice
N.J.S. 3B:22-4 does not key the creditor clock to publication at all. Creditors "shall present their claims to the personal representative of the decedent’s estate in writing and under oath, specifying the amount claimed and the particulars of the claim, within nine months from the date of the decedent’s death."
That makes New Jersey unusually predictable and unusually unforgiving in the same breath. A representative knows the date on the day of the death, with nothing to publish and no service to arrange; a creditor gets no fresh window from a late notice, because there is no notice in the formula.
The consequence is framed as protection rather than extinguishment. If a claim is not presented within the nine months, "the personal representative shall not be liable to the creditor with respect to any assets which the personal representative may have delivered or paid in satisfaction of any lawful claims, devises or distributive shares, before the presentation of the claim." The shield attaches to what has already gone out the door, which is why the nine-month date and the first distribution date should be read together.
Once a claim is in, the representative is on a clock too: N.J.S. 3B:22-7 requires that "within 3 months after the presentation to him of a claim, the personal representative shall allow or dispute it or allow it in part and dispute it in part, and give notice in writing to the creditor, his agent or attorney." Section 3B:22-4 was amended by L.2004, c.132, s.84.
Source: N.J.S. 3B:22-4, read from the enacting state’s own official publication on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
General sequence: first week, how long probate takes.
Sources rechecked October 3, 2026: New Jersey source list · how sources are checked · report a correction