The protocols, and what they cover
The court's protocols took effect on 1 July 2026 and sit on its own page. They cover filing, appearance, the process calendar, motion practice, the length of papers, alternative dispute resolution and conferences. An attorney who has read them is working from the same document the court is.
The court sits at 320 Center Drive in Riverhead, Monday to Friday from nine to five. The main number is 631-852-1745, which opens a menu, and the departments have their own lines: Probate 631-852-1725, Administration 631-852-1714, Guardianship 631-852-1735, Accounting 631-852-1720, Miscellaneous 631-852-1720 and the Cashier 631-852-1730.
What is filed, and how
Original wills and death certificates are filed in person at 320 Center Drive.
Responsive pleadings are submitted through the electronic filing system where a party has counsel, and by mail or through that system where a party appears without counsel.
The court publishes its own local form of citation for various proceedings, which follows the official forms used in Surrogate's Court practice. Service of process follows article 3 of the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act and Uniform Rule 207.7.
The process calendar
The process calendar is called at 9:30 in the morning, and calendar markings are posted on the court's website each week.
In-person appearance is required on the process calendar, on orders to show cause, on orders to attend and be examined under section 2103, and on orders to compel production of a will. Virtual appearances are permitted in the court's discretion. Beyond what the protocols provide or what is arranged in advance, matters are heard in person.
An order to show cause carrying a temporary restraint or other interim relief is filed with enough notice for the other side to be heard, and the applicant telephones the court to ask for a hearing, which the court then arranges.
Motions
Motions are taken on submission unless oral argument is directed, or requested and granted.
A motion is returnable on a Tuesday process day. It is filed electronically, and papers handed over a counter are deemed rejected and go unconsidered. Responding papers are filed by noon on the day they are due. A request to adjourn should reach the court at least two business days before the return date.
Supporting affirmations and affidavits are uploaded separately from exhibits. The court requires no working copies. In a pending contested matter, counsel may ask for a telephone conference with all parties and the assigned law assistant before filing, which is worth doing where the motion concerns discovery.
How long papers may be
Affidavits, affirmations, briefs and memoranda in support of or opposing a motion run to twenty pages and seven thousand words each. Replies run to twelve pages and four thousand two hundred words. A cross-motion's papers take the same twenty pages and seven thousand words.
The count leaves out the caption, the table of contents, the table of authorities and the signature block, and may be taken from the word processor. Every brief, memorandum, affirmation and affidavit carries a page at the end certifying that it complies.
Sur-reply papers, and correspondence addressing the merits of a motion, are permitted only by express advance permission. Material filed in violation of that rule goes unread. Counsel may inform the court by stipulation of a relevant appellate decision handed down after submission, without further argument.
Mediation in contested matters
New contested matters are subject to mandatory alternative dispute resolution. Referrals go to the court's roster of mediators, with private mediation available as an option, under the court's separate mediation protocols.
Conferences
Conferences held by a member of the Law Department take place in person, by telephone or by video, and video conferences run on Microsoft Teams. Participants enter a Teams meeting fifteen minutes before it is due to start, ready to proceed. A matter conducted that way is a formal proceeding.
What the filing costs, and who sets it
The fee on a probate or administration petition is set by the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act for the whole state and keyed to the gross value of the estate: $45 below $10,000; $75 from $10,000 to under $20,000; $215 from $20,000 to under $50,000; $280 from $50,000 to under $100,000; $420 from $100,000 to under $250,000; $625 from $250,000 to under $500,000; and $1,250 at $500,000 and above. Objections to probate are $150, a note of issue $45, and a certified copy of a will $6 per page.
Filing electronically is by consent
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 it stops short of service of process to gain jurisdiction, which is made the way the statute requires.
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 and the court issues letters of administration in the order of priority the statute sets.
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.