Under NJ law, the divorce automatically invalidates any bequest to the former spouse unless the will was written after the divorce or the deceased reconfirmed the will in writing after the divorce or unless the divorce decree specified the bequest in the will would remain valid. Thus, once your mom and dad were divorced any will provision leaving her anything was invalidated by the divorce in NJ. As the child of your father, you are a legal heir to the estate and you have a claim to seek to file for your share of the estate in probate court and you would have to file in probate to make your claim on your share of his estate. If the will only had your mother as beneficiary, then with that bequest invalidated by divorce, the estate is probated as though no will existed and you would be entitled to approximately 1/2 of 75% of the estate under the NJ law.

As far as finding an original will, there is no place that these wills are recorded, so unless you know the attorney who drafted the will and they have a copy or you find a copy elsewhere, there is no other way to locate them and the estate proceeds in intestacy.

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