Queens County, by the day of the week
The Queens County Surrogate's Court sits at 88-11 Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica, open from nine to five. The Clerk's Office is 718-298-0500. The Surrogate is the Hon. Cassandra A. Johnson and the Chief Clerk is Janet Edwards Tucker.
The week runs to a fixed pattern. Preliminary conferences are heard on Mondays at 9:30 in the morning and pre-trial conferences on Tuesdays at the same hour. Guardianship and adoption matters are heard on Wednesdays at 9:30. The process and motion calendars are called on Thursdays at 9:30.
Trials are scheduled fifteen days after a note of issue is filed, and the court asks that all parties be ready to proceed immediately to trial on the date their matter appears on the trial calendar.
Requests about a calendar, an appearance or an adjournment go to the Calendar Clerk. Requests sent to individual court attorneys are deleted, and requests sent by fax are returned to the sender unprocessed.
Queens County, at the cashier
The cashier keeps shorter hours than the courthouse: nine until a quarter to one, and two until a quarter to four.
A certificate of appointment is $6, and certification of a file is $6 per page. An exemplified copy costs $20 plus $6 per page, a charge the statewide fee schedule leaves to the county.
Exemplifications may be requested by a fiduciary of the estate, by the attorney of record in that court, or by an agent holding written permission signed by the fiduciary and notarized. A request goes by mail or through the electronic filing system with payment, naming the decedent, the file number and exactly which documents are wanted, and telling the court which state or country the documents are bound for. Some jurisdictions outside the United States also require an apostille after the exemplified documents arrive, and the court does not provide apostille services.
Payment is by cashier's check from a New York bank, an attorney's check from a New York bank, or a postal money order payable to the Queens County Surrogate's Court, or by Visa or MasterCard through the electronic filing system. Personal checks are not accepted.
Kings County, and two Surrogates
The Kings County Surrogate's Court sits at 2 Johnson Street in Brooklyn, on 347-404-9700. The Chief Clerk is Lisa Mathis and the Deputy Chief Clerk is Kim N. Stephens.
The counter keeps unusual hours. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday it is open from nine until a quarter to five, closed for lunch between one and two. On Wednesday it closes at noon.
Two Surrogates sit here, the Hon. Rosemarie Montalbano and the Hon. Bernard J. Graham, and they publish joint part rules that diverge in the places an attorney most needs to know. The process calendar is called at ten in the morning and the motion calendar at half past eleven, with conferences following the call.
Before Surrogate Montalbano, process and motions are heard on Tuesdays, the motion calendar is a submission calendar, and an appearance on a fully submitted motion is unnecessary unless the court directs one or oral argument has been requested in writing on the face of the papers. Proof of service is due by noon on the preceding Friday.
Before Surrogate Graham, process and motions are heard on Thursdays, and every motion is argued in person whether it comes by notice of motion or by order to show cause. Proof of service is due by noon on the preceding Tuesday.
A return date on an order to show cause is set by the court in either part, and it requires an appearance.
Kings County, what has to arrive and when
Uniform Rule 207.7(c) is strictly enforced, and proof of service is due two days before the return date at the hour each part sets. Proof filed late may go unreviewed before the return date.
Alternative service under section 307(3) of the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act requires three attempts at personal service first, on different days and at different times across a two-week period.
Death certificates, purported wills, bonds and exemplified or certified copies are filed in original, and the originals are due within two business days of the electronic filing. Where they have not arrived within sixty days, the application is deemed discontinued. An original will is not to be unstapled, and where one appears unstapled an affidavit explaining it is required.
Working copies are due within two business days of filing for accountings with schedules, for affidavits of due diligence carrying more than six pages of exhibits, and for proposed orders to show cause. Each carries the filing system's confirmation notice as its front cover, and a copy arriving without it is refused and no action is taken on it.
Anything to be returned needs a self-addressed stamped envelope. Every petition, pleading and notice of appearance carries a valid email address for the attorney or the self-represented party.
Kings County, adjournments and appearances
An adjournment takes effect on the court's approval, even where every party consents. The request goes in writing at least forty-eight hours before the appearance, to the department, with notice to all parties, and it states the current date, any prior adjournments, the good cause relied on, the position of the other parties and the proposed new date. Absent good cause, a matter is adjourned no more than twice.
Court proceedings are conducted in person. A virtual appearance is an accommodation in extenuating circumstances, requested through the department and by email to chambers, and it runs on Microsoft Teams as a formal proceeding akin to appearing in the courtroom.
Once a motion becomes unnecessary, counsel tells the court in writing immediately, and a failure to do so can bring sanctions. Sur-replies are accepted only where the court directs, and a reply to objections is neither accepted nor considered. A failure to appear can bring a default and dismissal, with costs and sanctions.
Correspondence goes to every party who has appeared and carries the file number, and correspondence plays no part in determining a motion. Contact with the court outside the presence of the other side is prohibited, apart from an order to show cause submitted for signature and settlement discussions all parties have consented to. A guardian ad litem is appointed from the Part 36 list the Office of Court Administration maintains.
What the two courts share
The filing fee is the state's in both. A probate or administration petition costs $45 below $10,000, rising through $215 at $20,000, $420 at $100,000 and $1,250 at $500,000 and above, keyed to the gross value of the estate. Objections to probate are $150 and a note of issue is $45.
Electronic filing in the Surrogate's Court runs as a consensual program under the Uniform Rules, available on consent in the proceedings and counties the Chief Administrator of the Courts has specified. Electronic service covers papers served on parties who have appeared, and service of process to gain jurisdiction is made the way the statute requires.
Mediation is offered across the city's Surrogate's Courts as an alternative to litigation, allowing a dispute to be resolved outside the courtroom.
What the state decides, wherever the estate is
Where there is a will, the proceeding is probate and the court issues letters testamentary. Where there is none, the proceeding is administration.
Where the whole of the personal property comes to $50,000 or less, the estate may be settled without a full administration under the small estate article, leaving aside property set off to a surviving spouse or children.
Where a person dies without a will, a surviving spouse with issue takes fifty thousand dollars and one half of the residue, and the issue take the balance by representation. A surviving spouse with no issue takes the whole, and issue with no spouse take the whole by representation. With neither, the estate passes to parents, then to the issue of parents, then to grandparents or their issue by parental side, and then to the great-grandchildren of the grandparents.