Ocean County, New Jersey
An inherited house in Harvey Cedars, handled with care.
When your family sells the property to us, we handle the probate at the Ocean 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 Harvey Cedars
What families find in Harvey Cedars.
Harvey Cedars sits midway up Long Beach Island, a borough only a few blocks wide between the ocean and Barnegat Bay, with Long Beach Township on either end. Set off in 1894 from what is now Barnegat, it had a post office named High Point into the 1930s. Around 390 people live here year-round, and summer brings about 12,000. Most inherited houses here are family shore homes that heirs reached by Long Beach Boulevard every summer.
Seasonal houses, scattered heirs
Most of the borough's homes are used seasonally by owners who live elsewhere. When a parent's beach house passes to several children, they may live in different states and agree on little beyond keeping it insured. We speak with each heir privately and take the house as it stands, whether an older cottage or a larger home.
Easements on the oceanfront
A 1992 storm hurt 80 homes along the ocean; afterward the borough took dune easements by eminent domain to support beach replenishment, and the state Supreme Court addressed how to value them in its 2013 Karan decision. An inherited oceanfront lot may carry one. We account for it in title work and purchase with the easement in place.
More water than land
Water makes up over half of Harvey Cedars' area. An empty inherited house here faces every storm season, and someone has to keep flood coverage current and check on it afterward. We purchase the property in its current form and coordinate timing with the executor.
Probate for a Harvey Cedars property
The Ocean 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 Ocean County that's the Ocean County Surrogate's Court in Toms River. 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 Ocean County Surrogate.
4 · Get paid
Close as-is, often in 30 to 60 days.
Harvey Cedars and the towns around it
Neighboring towns we also serve
We serve every municipality in Ocean County and all 21 New Jersey counties.
Harvey Cedars questions
How would we know whether the family's oceanfront lot has a dune easement?
Easements the borough took are recorded, and our title work turns them up. We buy oceanfront homes with the easement in place.
Mom's cottage hasn't been updated in decades. Should the estate fix it first?
That is the family's choice, but it isn't needed for us. We purchase older Harvey Cedars cottages as they stand, with contents if the family prefers.
Where is probate filed for a house in Harvey Cedars?
Probate for someone who lived in Harvey Cedars is handled by the Ocean County Surrogate's Court in Toms River. 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 Harvey Cedars 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 an Ocean County property?
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