If you are probating a will for a loved one who lived in Manhattan, the total cost generally breaks down into three buckets: the graduated court filing fee set by statute, attorney’s fees that typically run between roughly $3,000 and $10,000 for an uncontested matter, and incidental estate expenses such as certified copies, publication, and a fiduciary bond if one
When a loved one dies owning assets in Manhattan, the estate generally moves through the New York County Surrogate’s Court by one of two routes: a small estate affidavit (voluntary administration under SCPA Article 13) or full probate of the will. The right choice depends almost entirely on what the decedent owned. If the personal property left behind — bank
When a Manhattan estate cannot wait for the full probate decree, preliminary letters testamentary under SCPA §1412 give the person named as executor in the will interim legal authority to act before probate is complete. In the New York County Surrogate’s Court, these letters let the nominated executor begin protecting and managing estate assets — securing a Manhattan co-op or
In most cases, an uncontested probate in New York County (Manhattan) takes roughly three to six months from the date the petition is filed to the day the court issues Letters Testamentary to the executor. That range assumes the original will is available, the death certificate is in hand, and every distributee signs a waiver and consent. When heirs must
When someone dies without a will in Manhattan, New York’s intestacy statute decides who inherits, not the family and not the deceased. The estate is distributed according to a fixed formula set out in the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL § 4-1.1), and the New York County Surrogate’s Court appoints an administrator (instead of an executor) to gather assets,
No, New York law does not technically require you to hire a lawyer to probate a will in Manhattan. An individual executor may file a petition on their own. In practice, however, almost no one probates a Manhattan will without counsel, and the New York County Surrogate’s Court strongly favors represented petitioners. The Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA) governs every