30 Apr My dad died. What can we do in this dispute over the house?

Q. My father passed away at the end of 2024 in an accident. Fortunately he prepared with a will he crafted and filed with his attorney in compliance with a 2007 PSA. The new issue is my mother, subject to the same PSA. She has never produced a copy of her will as I’ve recently asked. I did research and she “sold” the home she is living in to my sister. The PSA designated myself, and my other two siblings, as irrevocable beneficiaries to my mother’s estate. Is there action that I can take now to prove my future share is being carved out and protected equally to the other beneficiaries?
— Beneficiary, or so I thought

A. First, let’s bring everyone up to speed on what a PSA is.

It’s short for a Property Settlement Agreement, which is also referred to as a Marital Settlement Agreement. This is the agreement people come to in a divorce, and it lays out how assets and debts are divided when a couple splits.

Now to what may be happening here.

Parties may contractually agree on the manner in which they will make a will, or on a provision in a will, or agree not to revoke a will, said Catherine Romania, an estate planning attorney with Witman Stadtmauer in Florham Park.

“It would be up to the proponent of such will, or will terms, to prove the nature and enforceability of the contractual provisions in order to enforce them at the time of death,” she said. “The content of the entire agreement, wording of the particular contractual provision and the parties’ intent would be particularly important.”

Your ability as someone not a party to the agreement — your standing — to enforce the approximately 22-year-old agreement made by your parents, or to what extent it may be enforced, will again depend on the language of the agreement as well as the intention of the parties to the agreement, Romania said.

However, she said, it is unlikely that you can attempt to enforce it prematurely, or prior to your mother’s passing when her “estate” will be determined.

Moreover, because you can be made whole later with a monetary sum, there is no urgency to the enforcement now, she said.

After considering the terms of the agreement and the surrounding circumstances, it may be determined that if at the time of your mother’s death, your mother’s will bequeaths and devises everything she owns at her death — her estate — equally to you and your siblings, she said, Then such terms are sufficient to satisfy the property settlement agreement which you reference, notwithstanding that she gifted or sold property prior to her death, she said.

“In other words, unless the agreement addressed gifting during life, then any gifting may not be in violation of the written agreement,” Romania said.

“Finally, notwithstanding all of the above, a court utilizing its powers of equity may determine at the time of your mother’s passing that to enforce the agreement as to assets she then owns would be unfair and as a result, void the agreement, or otherwise interpret the agreement to provide an equitable solution in the middle ground,” Romania said.

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This story was originally published in April 2026. 

NJMoneyHelp.com presents certain general financial planning principles and advice, but should never be viewed as a substitute for obtaining advice from a personal professional advisor who understands your unique individual circumstances.