Probating Wills through the Surrogate Court to Distribute Assets to Beneficiaries

Learn about probate and how it works in New York

When an individual passes away as a resident of New York and the individual has a Will, it may need to go through probate in the Surrogate’s Court of the county of the individual lived in at the time of death. “Probate” means to file the Will with the Surrogate’s Court so the Court can affirm it is the individual’s Will is genuine and valid.

In order to submit the deceased individual’s Will for probate, an attorney on behalf of the named Executor of the Will submits a petition for probate with the Court along with the deceased individual’s original Will with the staples intact and a certified copy of the death certificate. All person’s named in the Will and persons who would have received a distribution from the estate had the person died without a will (known as distributees) are notified that the Will has been submitted to Probate. Contrary to popular belief, there is no official will reading.

Once appointed, the Executor liquidates all assets that were solely in the deceased individuals name (assets that were owned jointly or had a beneficiary, do not go through probate) and deposits the money into an estate checking account. The money is held in the account for at least seven months to give creditors time to come forward and for any reimbursements for funeral or administration expenses to be made. After seven months, an inventory of assets is filed with the court, receipt and releases are created with an accounting to be filed as well and the assets are distributed according to the Will.

To learn more about probate, wills, or estate planning in general, contact us today to start planning for the future.