When considering environmental liabilities in the context of an estate administration, property owners can take proactive steps to abate the risk, or at least make it more manageable for their heirs.
Claims Against Estates
Environmental liabilities generally do not lend themselves to the typical resolution procedure applicable to non-environmental liabilities in estate administrations. Generally, a creditor of a decedent has nine months from the date of the decedent’s death to present a claim in writing to the executor or administrator of the decedent’s estate (collectively “Personal Representative”; N.J.S.A. 3B:22-4). If a creditor fails to present a claim within the nine-month period, the Personal Representative is not personally liable to the creditor with respect to any assets that the Personal Representative may have delivered or paid in satisfaction of any lawful claims, devises, or distributive shares. Id. After the expiration of the nine-month period and distribution of estate assets, creditors can still pursue their claims against estate beneficiaries under their Refunding Bonds (N.J.S.A. 3B:22-16).
