Morris County, New Jersey
An inherited house in Chester Township, handled with care.
When your family sells the property to us, we handle the probate at the Morris County Surrogate's Court and can cover its costs, including the family's estate attorney fees. We speak with each heir separately and privately, and we take the property as it stands.
Inherited property in Chester Township
What families find in Chester Township.
Chester Township wraps around Chester Borough in western Morris County, a rural township of farms, equestrian properties and country estates cut by the Black River and Hacklebarney State Park. Place names such as Milldale, Pleasant Hill, Upper Ironia, Horton and Mount Paul hint at the mills and iron mines that once worked here; mining began around 1875. Inherited property in the township usually means a house on a large lot with its own well and septic, and on some parcels, farm buildings or acreage.
Private well and septic
Outside the borough, Chester Township homes rely on individual wells for water and septic systems for wastewater. An estate often has no record of when the well was last tested or the tank last pumped. Gembrook takes the property with its systems as they are, and any testing it wants is handled on its own side.
Little new building allowed
About 86 percent of the township falls within the Preservation Area of the Highlands, and development is tightly limited by state and township ordinances; only 27 new homes were built in 2005 and 16 in 2006. For an estate, that means splitting off a lot may not be an option. Gembrook values the property as it actually exists today.
Preserved farm deeds
Some 12 square miles, roughly 42 percent of the land, is protected for good, and some farmland is deed-restricted under the state Farmland Preservation Program. A restriction recorded on a parent's farm stays with the land after the estate passes it on. Gembrook's title review identifies any such restriction early, so heirs know what they have inherited.
Probate for a Chester Township property
The Morris County Surrogate's Court, handled for you.
In New Jersey, an estate is opened in the county where the person who passed away lived. For Morris County that's the Morris County Surrogate's Court in Morristown. With a will, the executor is appointed there; without one, an administrator is appointed, and the other heirs typically sign renunciations.
Before an inherited house can be sold, New Jersey also usually needs an inheritance tax waiver — or, for close family, an affidavit — and any liens, judgments or back taxes have to be resolved. We coordinate all of it for you. Read our full New Jersey probate guide →
1 · Reach out
A short, unhurried call about the property and your family.
2 · Private offer
A private, written offer for the property, with every number shown.
3 · We handle probate
We handle it with the Morris County Surrogate.
4 · Get paid
Close as-is, often in 30 to 60 days.
Chester Township and the towns around it
Neighboring towns we also serve
- Chester Borough
- Mendham Township
- Randolph
- Roxbury
- Mount Olive
- Washington Township
- Bedminster
- Peapack-Gladstone
- Tewksbury
We serve every municipality in Morris County and all 21 New Jersey counties.
Chester Township questions
Dad's farm may be in the Farmland Preservation Program. How can we tell?
Preserved farms carry a recorded deed restriction, so it appears in a title search. We run that search as part of our work with the family.
Does the estate need a septic inspection before selling to Gembrook?
No. We take the house with its well and septic in their current condition and handle any testing we want ourselves.
Where is probate filed for a house in Chester Township?
Probate for someone who lived in Chester Township is handled by the Morris County Surrogate's Court in Morristown. That's where a will is admitted, or an administrator is appointed when there's no will. When your family sells to Gembrook Properties, we handle this step with you, and in most cases you just sign where needed.
Can you cover the probate costs for a Chester Township property?
Yes, when your family sells the inherited property to Gembrook Properties. In many cases we cover the cost of opening the estate, including the family's estate attorney fees, so the family pays nothing out of pocket.
What if the heirs don't agree?
That's common. We speak with each heir separately and privately, so no one has to negotiate as a group, and the executor or court-appointed administrator signs the sale.
Inherited a house in Chester Township?
Talk to a real person — not a call center.
No pressure, no cost. Just an honest conversation about the property and your options.
New Jersey counties we serve