Manhattan Surrogate Court

The Manhattan Surrogate Court, also known as the New York County Surrogate Court, is a place where you might end up or need to file paperwork if there are concerns related to intestate administration, guardianship and additional proceedings.

Understanding the processes of the Surrogate Courts in the state of New York, especially the Manhattan Surrogate Court, will be helpful if you are unsure about paperwork you have already received or if you believe you need to file a contest to a will. The Manhattan Surrogate Court is responsible for evaluating the validity of the various documents associated with estate administration.

Furthermore, they will handle the distribution of property surrounding intestate administration or those situations in which the person in question does not have a will.

All of these cases can be complicated by other family members who believe that there have been undue influences or other reasons to contest a will or a trust. These various issues will be managed through the Surrogate Court and if you are not familiar with how the Surrogate Court operates, you will want to have a Manhattan Surrogate Court lawyer at your side. There is a Surrogate Court located in every county across New York state.

The Manhattan Surrogate Court deals with many different types of matters related to a decedent and the management of that decedent’s estate. Furthermore, certain adoptions and guardianship proceedings are managed under the headline of the Manhattan Surrogate Court. Different types of issues can be heard by the Surrogate's Court, including administration, probate, adoption, guardianship, accounting, voluntary administration, administration and miscellaneous proceedings. How you end up in front of the Manhattan Surrogate Court will be important for understanding your rights and responsibilities. The types of miscellaneous proceedings guided over by the Manhattan Surrogate Court include compelling a fiduciary to account, surcharging a fiduciary for improper actions, removal of a fiduciary from an estate, determining a spouse's right of election, the construction of a will or a trust and setting legal fees.

Certain people can be adopted through procedures in the Manhattan Surrogate Court, including those affecting foreign adoption, adult adoptions, family adoptions, stepparent adoptions and infant adoptions. The fiduciary of a trust or an estate might choose to file accounting paperwork in order to discharge them from further liability after they have completed their estate administration processes.

If you have never been in front of this court before, you’re not alone in feeling anxious about how to approach a case. Thankfully, you do not have to do this on your own. Your lawyer is there to guide you and equip you with what it takes. Your questions can be directed straight to your lawyer’s office for all your concerns so that you don’t have to worry about the details.

Voluntary administration is known as a simplified estate for those estates in which assets are valued less than $30,000. More common is general administration which occurs when a person passes away without a will. The administration proceeding is designed to establish an individual to collect and distribute the assets. If the decedent did have a last will and testament, probate is used instead to manage issues such as contesting the validity of a will or proving the validity of last will and testament. All of these complicated factors need to be taken into consideration when you are thinking about going through the process on your own.

You deserve to have the support of an attorney who will remain your advisor throughout the duration of the process and answer many of the most common questions you bring to the table.