Bill Text: NJ S3341 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides that for purposes of will contest, caregiver-testator relationship is deemed "confidential relationship" and caregiver has burden to prove no undue influence existed.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-12-01 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee [S3341 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-S3341-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ROBERT W. SINGER
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Provides that for purposes of will contest, caregiver-testator relationship is deemed "confidential relationship" and caregiver has burden to prove no undue influence existed
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning will contests and supplementing Title 3B of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. For the purposes of this act:
"Caregiver" means a person without a biological relationship to the testator who provides care or services to a testator at a qualified housing facility and shall include, but is not limited to, an owner, administrator, director, officer, or employee of a qualified housing facility that provides care or services to the testator, and any individual or entity affiliated with or related to an owner, administrator, director, officer, or employee of a qualified housing facility that provides care or services to the testator.
"Familial caregiver" means a person with a biological relationship with the testator and who provides care and support for the testator.
"Qualified housing facility" means: a nursing home, assisted living residence, comprehensive personal care home, residential health care facility, or dementia care home licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.); any continuing care retirement community operating under a certificate of authority issued pursuant to P.L.1986, c.103 (C.52:27D-330 et seq.); and any public housing designated for seniors that is owned by a housing authority created or continued pursuant to P.L.1992, c.79 (C.40A:12A-1 et seq.).
"Will" shall have the same meaning as defined pursuant to N.J.S.3B:1-2.
b. In any judicial proceeding involving a will contest, if a beneficiary of the will was a caregiver of the decedent and an individual alleges undue influence by the caregiver, the court shall deem the relationship between the caregiver and the testator to be a confidential relationship and there shall be a presumption of undue influence. Upon such determination, the burden of proof that undue influence did not occur will shift to the caregiver as a beneficiary.
c. Subsection b. of this section shall not apply to familial caregivers.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
The bill provides that a caregiver-decedent relationship establishes a "confidential relationship."
The bill requires the court to make a confidential relationship finding upon the evidence that there was a caregiver-testator relationship. The bill defines a caregiver as a person without a biological relationship to the testator who provides care or services to a testator at a qualified housing facility. The definition of caregiver includes, but is not limited to, an owner, administrator, director, officer, or employee of a qualified housing facility that provides care or services to the testator, and any individual or entity affiliated with or related to an owner, administrator, director, officer, or employee of a qualified housing facility that provides care or services to the testator. Upon making the determination, the burden of proof that undue influence did not occur would shift to the caregiver as a beneficiary of the will.
The bill does not apply to familial caregivers. "Familial caregivers" is defined as a person with a biological relationship with the testator and who provides care and support for the testator.
