Zack Whelan

About Zack

Zachary S. Whelan is a New Jersey licensed attorney specializing in estate planning, probate litigation, real estate transactions, real estate litigation, business formation, business disputes, chancery litigation and civil litigation matters. Zack appears regularly in the state and Federal courts of the State of New Jersey. Zack had the privilege of interning for the Hon. Vincent Leblon, Presiding Judge of the Chancery Division in Middlesex County. He was then honored to clerk for the Hon. Joseph P. Quinn, Presiding Judge of the Chancery Division and Probate in Monmouth County. He has significant knowledge, experience and insight into Chancery matters that most other practitioners do not have. He then worked for over two years as a civil litigation associate in a medium-sized insurance defense firm practicing medical malpractice defense and representing state entities and employees in civil rights cases. Zack is a member of the Middlesex County Bar Association, the Somerset County Bar Association and the Monmouth County Bar Association. As a member of the Monmouth County Bar Association, Zack is a member of the Probate and Estate Administration Committee and the Real Estate and Land Development Committee. Through his committee appointments, Zack receives updates and information on current and upcoming New Jersey probate, real estate and land use legislation. Zack is frequently appointed by the Middlesex County Surrogates Court and Somerset County Surrogates Court as an attorney or fiduciary in probate and estate matters. In 2024, he was appointed as a fiduciary for a sub-trust of the J. Seward Johnson 1963 Trust, which originally held a corpus valued at approximately half a billion dollars. As a court-appointed administrator, he has administered estates from being issued letters testamentary to conclusion. He also receives emergent appointments in the Middlesex County Chancery Division for special medical guardianships. Zack is regularly in communication with deputy surrogates, probate clerks, law clerks, and judges chambers. Zack is a graduate of Rutgers University and Rutgers Law School. At Rutgers Law School, he was the Senior Notes & Commentaries Editor for the Rutgers University Law Review and his note, titled Driving for Second Chances: A Foundation for Establishing the First DUI Expungement Law in New Jersey, was published in the Fall 2020. He was also nominated and appointed as a member of the Rutgers Law School Association of Latin American Law Students, which promotes Hispanic heritage and culture while also encouraging the study of law among underrepresented groups. Zack previously worked for the Rutgers Community and Transactional Law Clinic as a student volunteer. While working for the Clinic, he represented a variety of clients from local non-profit organizations seeking to attain or reinstate 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status to being appointed by the Essex County Surrogates Court as a student attorney for alleged incapacitated persons in guardianship matters. Zack is committed to serving the community. While in law school, he worked on the Chicago Justice Project, which uses an evidence-based approach to create change in outdated criminal justice system policies and practices. He then volunteered for the Morris Stern Bankruptcy Project, where he completed and filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy petitions for indigent debtors. Prior to law school, Zack volunteered with the Washington Valley Volunteer Fire Department as a firefighter for almost a decade. He then volunteered at the Somerset County YMCA. Aside from being a lawyer, Zack enjoys fishing, the beach and playing with his cat, Athena.

Licensed States

Education

Colleagues at Whelan & Whelan

Charles D. Whelan III