The first call is free, and it is a phone call, not a video meeting.
Probate work usually starts with a call from someone who did not expect to be handling it. These are the four situations we hear most often.
The will names you, and now a court, a bank and a family are all waiting on you. The first job is getting the court to give you legal authority to act. Nothing else can happen until that is done.
The estate still has to be administered, the court still has to appoint someone, and state law decides who inherits. Someone has to petition to be administrator, and it is usually a spouse or a child.
Accounts, brokerage, a safe deposit box: a bank will not talk to you without letters from the court, whatever the will says and whoever you were to the person who died.
A sibling disputes the will, an executor stops answering, or someone has already taken property out of the house. These get worse and more expensive the longer they sit.
Probate runs the same sequence in both states, under different names. From filing to close, most estates take six months to two years.
New York and New Jersey probate are both filed in the Surrogate's Court for the county where the person lived. Pennsylvania is filed with the Register of Wills. The original will, the death certificate and a petition go in together.
The court issues Letters Testamentary if there is a will, or Letters of Administration if there is not. This is the document banks, brokerages and title companies actually ask to see.
Heirs and beneficiaries are formally notified, creditors are given notice, and every asset is identified and valued as of the date of death.
Claims are reviewed and either paid or challenged. The creditor window differs between New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and it sets the earliest date anything can safely be distributed.
A final accounting goes to the court and to the beneficiaries, assets are transferred, and the estate is closed.
Not sure which of these you are dealing with? That is what the first call is for.
We do the parts with deadlines and forms. You stay the executor and you make the decisions, but you are not the one working out what the court wants or when it wants it.
The petition, the original will, the death certificate, the bond if the court wants one, and the hearing if there is one. This is the step that unlocks everything else, and it is where most self-filed estates stall.
Once you have authority, the estate has to be inventoried, valued and kept out of trouble while the creditor window runs. Property that has to be sold, and property in the other state, is handled here too.
Most disputes are about information rather than money, and they settle once someone explains what an executor is actually allowed to do. When one will not settle, we say so early rather than after a year of fees, and refer you to trial counsel if it needs litigation.
New York and New Jersey probate both run through a county Surrogate's Court; Pennsylvania runs through the Register of Wills. We work in all three, which matters when someone lived in one state and owned property in another.
Both states have small estate procedures, and some assets pass outside probate entirely. The first call is where we find out which one you are in.
Creditor windows, tax dates and court deadlines are the easiest part of probate to miss and the most expensive. Keeping them is our job, not yours.
The firm that closes the estate can put the planning in place that keeps the next generation of the family out of this process.
Call (917) 515-1825 or contact us online to get started
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None of this is a reason to panic. It is the four things that most often cost an estate money, and every one of them is avoidable.
An executor who distributes before the creditor window closes, or who misses a tax filing, can be held personally liable for the shortfall. Acting in good faith is not by itself a defense.
Assets stay frozen while the estate is open. A rejected filing or a missing document adds months, and beneficiaries who were counting on the money start pressing the executor, not the court.
Probate filings are public record. What the estate held, who is owed what, and who is fighting whom can be read by anyone, including creditors and people looking for an opening.
A contested accounting or a will challenge turns a routine administration into litigation, paid for out of the estate. The cheapest time to deal with a dispute is before it is filed.
Most of what goes wrong in probate goes wrong in the first two months, before anyone has been to court. Fifteen minutes on the phone is usually enough to tell you what has to happen first.
Tell us what happened and we will tell you what the court is going to want.
The filing, the notices, the accounting and the distribution, covered step by step for New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Learn More →Pick a time below, or call (917) 515-1825. The first fifteen minutes are free.
A phone call, not a video meeting. Have the will and the death certificate to hand if you have them.
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Tell us where the person lived, whether there is a will, and what you have been asked to do. We will come back to you with what happens next.
