3B:12-49  Powers conferred upon the court.

3B:12-49.  Powers conferred upon the court.

The court has, for the benefit of the ward, the ward’s dependents and members of his household, all the powers over the ward’s estate and affairs which he could exercise, if present and not under a disability, except the power to make a will, and may confer those powers upon a guardian of the estate. These powers include, but are not limited to, the power to convey or release the ward’s present and contingent and expectant interests in real and personal property, including dower and curtesy and any right of survivorship incident to joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety, to exercise or release the ward’s powers as trustee, personal representative, custodian for minor, guardian, or donee of a power of appointment, to enter into contracts, to create revocable or irrevocable trusts of property of the estate which may extend beyond the ward’s disability or life, to exercise the ward’s options to purchase securities or other property, to exercise the ward’s rights to elect options and change beneficiaries under insurance annuity policies and to surrender the policies for their cash value, to exercise the ward’s right to an elective share in the estate of the ward’s deceased spouse or domestic partner as defined in section 3 of P.L.2003, c. 246 (C.26:8A-3) to the extent permitted by law and to renounce any interest by testate or intestate succession or by inter vivos transfer and to engage in planning utilizing public assistance programs consistent with current law.

Amended 2005, c.304, s.36.