I have found through my counties surrogates office that an the estate of my father was valued at $150,000 but $100,000 of the estates value was derived from a settlement of a wrongful death claim (his claim made by my stepmother). A 50,000 probate bond was taken out also.

Now my question is this. Since it has been found that she had (she passed away three years ago) misappropriated the funds (because she failed to follow the rules of NJ Intestate Law) I had calculated that my entitlement should had been $50,000 since she was not my mother and I was my fathers only son. But I was told the payout from the bonds holding company would only be $25,000 based on the following explanation.

"The estimate of the value of the estate is trumped by the amount of

money the estate's claim was settled for. With insurance you do not

get the policy limits automatically. The policy pays for the amount of

the loss. The estate received $100,000 in settlement of the wrongful

death claim and your entitlement under same is the maximum liability

with the bonding company is responsible for."

Now I am having trouble understanding this because but shouldnt the bond apply to the entire amount of the estate since its purpose is to protect or ensure the entire estate is divided up correctly according to NJ's rules of intestacy?

I was also told the following.

"The bonding company is not bound to pay you more than you would have

received had your stepmother followed the New Jersey law as to

intestacy."

But if I was entitled to $50,000 by New Jersey intestacy law then shouldn't the $50,000 bond underwriter pay $50,000 which was the loss?