If you are about to file a probate petition in Manhattan, you are likely asking a simple question: what will it cost? The honest answer for 2026 is that probate in the New York County Surrogate’s Court involves three distinct categories of cost — a graduated court filing fee tied to the size of the estate under SCPA §2402, attorney’s
If you are settling a loved one’s estate in New York City and trying to decide between a small estate affidavit and full probate, the short answer is this: a small estate affidavit — formally called voluntary administration under SCPA Article 13 — is a faster, lower-cost path available when the decedent’s qualifying personal property is modest, while full probate
Preliminary Letters Testamentary are an order from the New York County Surrogate’s Court that grants the executor nominated in a will limited, interim authority to act for an estate before the will has been fully admitted to probate. Authorized by SCPA §1412, they let the nominated fiduciary begin urgent tasks — securing real property, paying pressing bills, accessing accounts, and
For most uncontested estates filed in the New York County Surrogate’s Court, probate takes roughly three to six months from filing to the issuance of Letters Testamentary — the document that legally empowers the executor to act. That range assumes the original will is valid on its face, all distributees (the people who would inherit under intestacy law) sign waivers
When someone dies without a will in New York City, their estate does not go to the state and it does not get frozen forever. Instead, New York’s intestacy statute, EPTL § 4-1.1, automatically decides who inherits, and the New York County Surrogate’s Court (or the Surrogate’s Court of whichever county the person lived in) appoints a close relative to
You are not legally required to hire a lawyer to probate a will in New York City, but in practice it is strongly advisable and, for many estates, effectively necessary. New York does not force an executor to retain counsel, yet the Surrogate’s Court process is governed by the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA) and the Estates, Powers and Trusts