New York Petition for Letters

Before applying for a grant you must publish an online notice of your intention to apply for Letters of Administration on the NSW Online Registry.

Completion of the executor or administrator appointment takes about six to eight weeks once the executor files the petition or the court makes a selection.

Because creditors are allowed up to seven months to file claims against an estate in New York, it takes a minimum of eight or nine months to complete the probate of even a relatively modest estate. A more complex and/or valuable estate can easily take well over a year to probate.

In order to obtain Letters Testamentary, an interested party (typically the nominated executor under the Will) will need to petition the Surrogate's Court and provide pertinent information regarding the decedent, relevant parties (i.e., the spouse, children, etc.) and the decedent's assets.

There are two components of letter of testamentary cost: the court fee and the attorney's fees. The court fee ranges from $45 to $1,250, depending on the gross value of the estate. The attorney's fees start at about $2,500 and can go up depending on the complexity of the case.

To obtain your letter of testamentary, you will need to file the will and death certificate in the probate court, along with forms asking for the letter of testamentary. You'll need to provide your information, as well as some basic information about the value of the estate and the date of death.

The short answer: 2 to 6 months. Typically 3 months. In the best-case scenario, getting your letters testamentary will take just 2 months. But typically, it takes 3 months to get a court appointment, even in the most straightforward and simplistic cases.

In order to obtain Letters Testamentary, an interested party (typically the nominated executor under the Will) will need to petition the Surrogate's Court and provide pertinent information regarding the decedent, relevant parties (i.e., the spouse, children, etc.) and the decedent's assets.