In a prior post, I explained that you cannot arbitrate a Will dispute in New Jersey — at least not through an arbitration clause buried in the Will itself. That remains the law. But a July 2026 decision from the New Jersey Appellate Division, In re Estate of Roseanne Dyevich, A-1192-24 (App. Div. July 22, 2026), illustrates an important distinction: when the parties themselves voluntarily agree to submit an estate dispute to arbitration, that agreement is enforceable — and the arbitrator's decision is binding and difficult to overturn.
What Happened in the Dyevich Estate
Nicholas and Roseanne Dyevich had four sons: Kevin, James, Thomas, and Michael. After both parents died — Nicholas in 2015 and Roseanne in 2019 — the family found itself in a tangle of litigation. Six separate court matters were pending, involving disputes over the administration of Nicholas's estate, Roseanne's incapacity and guardianship, the disposition of real property, allegations of financial misappropriation, and the conduct of James as executor and guardian.
Rather than litigate all six cases to conclusion, the parties — including a non-family creditor and a corporate entity — agreed to resolve everything through binding arbitration. The arbitrator issued a comprehensive written opinion and a final judgment addressing all of the contested issues. Kevin, who had served as executor, then moved to vacate the award in the trial court, arguing that the other brothers had engaged in misconduct that tainted the arbitration. The trial court denied his motion. Kevin appealed.
The Court's Ruling: Misconduct by a Party Is Not Enough
The Appellate Division affirmed the denial and offered a clear statement of the law. Under the New Jersey Uniform Arbitration Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:23B-23(a), a court may vacate an arbitration award only for six specific reasons. Those grounds are narrow and focused on process, not outcome — things like fraud by the arbitrator, evident partiality of the arbitrator, refusal to hear material evidence, or an arbitrator exceeding their authority.
Kevin's argument was that the defendants had committed fraud — doctoring photographs, destroying financial records, failing to pay the accounting firm. But the court pointed to the critical distinction: under New Jersey law, an arbitration award "may be vacated only for fraud, corruption, or similar wrongdoing on the part of the arbitrators." Rappaport v. Pasternak, 260 N.J. 230, 249 (2025) (quoting Chief Justice Wilentz in Perini Corp. v. Greate Bay Hotel & Casino, Inc., 129 N.J. 479, 548 (1992)). Alleged misconduct by the opposing party does not meet that standard.
The court also declined to consider several arguments Kevin raised for the first time on appeal — including a new claim that the defendants had doctored photographs to influence the arbitrator. Under long-standing New Jersey appellate practice, issues not raised before the trial court are generally not considered on appeal. Nieder v. Royal Indem. Ins. Co., 62 N.J. 229, 234 (1973).
The Key Distinction: Voluntary Arbitration vs. a Will Clause
This case is easy to confuse with the Hekemian situation I wrote about earlier, but the two are fundamentally different. In Hekemian, a testator attempted to impose arbitration on beneficiaries through a clause written into the Will — a unilateral document that the beneficiaries never agreed to, could not negotiate, and were never asked to sign. The Appellate Division held that clause unenforceable because it lacked mutual assent and was incompatible with the Probate Code's grant of authority to the Superior Court over Will disputes.
In Dyevich, there was no Will clause at issue. All the parties — represented by counsel, fully aware of the pending litigation — sat down and agreed among themselves to submit their disputes to an arbitrator. That is a voluntary, bilateral agreement to arbitrate. It is exactly the kind of arrangement that New Jersey's arbitration statute is designed to support and enforce.
The rule, stated plainly: a testator cannot force beneficiaries into arbitration through a Will. But parties to an active estate dispute can agree — on their own terms, with full knowledge — to resolve that dispute in arbitration. Once they do, the resulting award carries the weight of a court judgment and can be vacated only in very limited circumstances.
What This Means for NJ Families Navigating Estate Disputes
Estate disputes are expensive, slow, and exhausting — especially when, as in the Dyevich family's case, multiple cases are pending at once and the litigation involves contested guardianships, financial accounts, and real property. Voluntary arbitration can be a practical path to resolution that offers privacy, speed, and finality. New Jersey courts strongly support it.
But finality cuts both ways. The same deference that makes an arbitration award powerful also makes it very difficult to undo. The New Jersey Supreme Court has described private arbitration awards as subject to "an extraordinarily deferential standard of review." Rappaport, 260 N.J. at 250. An award will not be overturned simply because a court might have decided the facts or the law differently. Courts are not in the business of second-guessing arbitrators.
If you are involved in an estate dispute and someone suggests arbitration as a way to resolve it, understand what you are agreeing to in advance. Once the arbitration is complete and the award is entered, your options to challenge it are narrow. You will not succeed by pointing to the other side's bad behavior during the proceedings — that is a matter for the arbitrator, not for the courts, after the fact.
The bottom line from Dyevich is this: arbitration works in the estate context when the parties choose it freely and with full information. What does not work — as Hekemian makes clear — is a testator trying to impose that choice on beneficiaries from beyond the grave.