If you are about to probate a loved one’s will in Rockland County, the first question is almost always about money: what does it actually cost to file with the Rockland County Surrogate’s Court? The short answer is that you will face two distinct categories of cost. First is the court filing fee, which is set by statute and is
If you are settling the estate of a loved one who lived in Rockland County, the threshold question is usually this: do you need full probate, or can you use the faster, less expensive small estate affidavit? The short answer is that a small estate affidavit — formally called voluntary administration under SCPA Article 13 — is available when the
Preliminary Letters Testamentary are a grant of interim authority issued by the Rockland County Surrogate’s Court under SCPA §1412, allowing the executor named in a will to begin managing the estate before the full probate proceeding is complete. When a will is filed for probate but the case cannot be decided immediately — because a citation must be served, a
For most families, probate in Rockland County takes about three to six months from filing to the issuance of Letters Testamentary when the will is uncontested and the heirs cooperate. That timeline reflects a clean estate processed through the Rockland County Surrogate’s Court, where the will is filed, the executor is appointed, and the legal authority to act is granted.
When someone dies without a will in Rockland County, their estate does not go to the State, and there is no chaos by default. Instead, New York’s intestacy laws take over: the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) decides exactly who inherits, and the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA) governs how the estate is administered through the Rockland County Surrogate’s
You are not legally required to hire a lawyer to probate a will in Rockland County. New York law does not force an executor to retain counsel before filing a Petition for Probate in the Surrogate’s Court. In practice, however, the answer for most families is yes — you should strongly consider hiring an attorney. Probate in New York is