How to Find Probate Records in New York by County

New York runs probate through 62 separate Surrogate's Courts, one in every county, and estates are filed in the county where the decedent was domiciled at death. There is no statewide probate database in the sense of a single searchable index of estates. There is one statewide portal, WebSurrogate, and understanding exactly what it does and does not show you is the difference between an afternoon at a desk and a trip to a courthouse.

The short version: WebSurrogate will usually tell you an estate exists and who is involved, going back decades. It will only show you the scanned documents if the filing was made on or after 19 February 2014.

That gap is where most agents give up. It is also where the useful work sits, because a case you can find but cannot read is still a case you know about before anyone else has bothered to look.

# Are New York probate records public?

Yes. Surrogate's Court filings are public records, and anyone can search them and inspect them without being an heir, a beneficiary, or an attorney on the case.

What is public includes the petition for probate or for letters of administration, the citation issued to distributees, the letters testamentary or letters of administration naming the fiduciary, the Inventory of Assets, accountings, and the full file history.

Two limits shape how you actually use that. First, access is not the same as digitisation: Uniform Rule 207.64 took effect on 19 February 2014 and restricts access to certain records and confidential personal information, and it is that date, not the age of the court's index, that governs which document images appear online. Second, several categories are excluded outright in some counties. Nassau's own WebSurrogate notice states that wills stored with the court for safekeeping and adoption proceedings cannot be searched there at all, while Erie's flyer says the will module carries no date restriction. Availability varies by county, and the absence of a result on WebSurrogate is not proof that no estate exists.

# Where are probate records filed in New York?

In the Surrogate's Court of the county where the decedent was domiciled at death, not where they died and not where the property sits.

Surrogate's Courts were established by chapter 38 of the Laws of 1787, and today each of New York's 62 counties has one. Each keeps its own file numbers, its own records room, and its own practice on older material. Nassau County did not exist until 1899 and Bronx County until 1914, so the courts are as old as the statute but the county map is not.

Testate and intestate filings read differently, and it matters for a sale

Testate, meaning there is a will, produces a petition for probate, a citation to the distributees, and letters testamentary. The executor holds a statutory power to sell estate real property under EPTL § 11-1.1(b)(5), at public or private sale, unless the will directs otherwise. Where the instrument prohibits a sale, court approval is needed.

Intestate, meaning no valid will, produces a petition for letters of administration. Here the distinction bites. Title to real property vests in the distributees at the moment of death, so an administrator is often not able to sign a listing agreement alone. A sale generally needs the distributees' consent or a proceeding under SCPA § 1902. Confirm which situation you are in early in any conversation, before you have spent three weeks courting someone who cannot convey.

Voluntary Administration does not reach real property

Estates with personal property of $50,000 or less qualify for Voluntary Administration under SCPA § 1301. The threshold is defined by personal property alone, and SCPA § 1306 confines the voluntary administrator to personal property: the powers granted are "with respect to personal property," and no authority over realty is conferred at any value.

The practical translation for anyone working real estate: every estate with a house in it is a full probate or administration proceeding, regardless of what the house is worth. That is precisely why probate filings work as a lead source in this state.

# How do you look up probate records in New York?

Start with WebSurrogate, the free statewide portal from the Unified Court System, then go to the county for anything it will not show you.

WebSurrogate offers five search modes: Name Search, File Search, Old Index Search, Will Search, and Index Book Pages, which lets you browse scanned index-book images by court. Name Search with a date-of-death filter is the one that does most of the work.

The 19 February 2014 date is the point almost everyone misreads. The WebSurrogate help guide states that the system "ONLY provides links to document images that were filed on or after 02/19/2014." Index and docket data, file history and party lists reach back much further, and Old Index Search reaches further still where a county has scanned its books. Manhattan's own database runs from 1964. So: you can find the case online, and for pre-2014 filings you read the documents at the courthouse.

Coverage arrived county by county rather than all at once. The OCA advisory of February 2022 reported the system live in 47 of 62 counties and expanding to all 62. Nassau's access began on 2 February 2022. The image cutoff is uniform; the date a given county's index became reachable is not, and not every court has scanned its old index records.

E-filing is a separate system. Under an OCA memo of 21 May 2025, e-filing through NYSCEF is mandatory for newly filed probate, administration and related miscellaneous proceedings in the Surrogate's Courts of Bronx, Kings, Queens and Richmond. New York County remains consensual.

The six counties below are the ones ProbateData covers.

New York County (Manhattan)

The highest-value estate market in the country, and the deepest records.

Payment methods vary by request channel. The court's record search instructions confirm the Records Room accepts credit card payment for emailed requests, with a 2% card fee, plus postage on copies. Confirm accepted payment forms before mailing anything.

Manhattan's median sale price across all property types was $1,125,255 in Q1 2025, up 10.1% year over year, per Baruch College's NYC Housing Market Trends report.

Kings County (Brooklyn)

The largest borough by population, with one of the heaviest Surrogate's caseloads in the city.

Check the Wednesday hours before you travel. The counter closes at noon, and that is the single most common wasted trip on this list.

Brooklyn's median sale price crossed $1 million for the first time in Q3 2025, at $1,050,000, per the Elliman Report for Q3 2025. It settled at $990,000 in Q4 2025, the third-highest on record, with listing inventory up 10.5% and sales down 0.4%, per the Q4 2025 report.

Queens County

The most linguistically diverse county in the United States, and a market that set a price record in the most recent full quarter.

Queens median sale price hit a record $739,053 in Q4 2025, up 5.6% year over year, while listings fell 27.1%, per the Elliman Report for Q4 2025. A market with record prices and shrinking inventory is exactly the condition in which off-market estate property earns its keep.

Richmond County (Staten Island)

The smallest borough by population, with housing stock that skews to single-family homes.

Staten Island's median sale price was $697,500 in Q1 2025, up 10.2% year over year, per the Baruch College report.

Nassau County

Directly east of Queens on Long Island, and the county with the largest homes in the state.

Nassau had the highest share of four-bedroom-or-larger homes sold anywhere in New York State in 2024, at 42.5%, per the NYSAR 2024 Annual Market Report. Larger homes mean larger estates and, more often, an attorney of record worth knowing.

Erie County

Western New York, anchored by Buffalo, and the only upstate market in this group.

Erie's median sale price was $270,000 in 2024, up 6.7% year over year, on 7,260 closed sales, with sellers receiving an average 105.7% of list price, per the NYSAR 2024 Annual Market Report. Sellers clearing list price in a market at a third of Manhattan's median is the reason Erie belongs on the same list as the boroughs.

Which New York counties have online probate search

Every county here is on WebSurrogate, so the useful question is not whether there is a search but how far back the documents go.

Old Index Search reaches further back in some counties than others, because not every Surrogate's Court has scanned or entered its old index records. Treat a blank result as inconclusive rather than as an answer.

# What does it cost to pull New York probate records?

WebSurrogate itself is free. The costs are the statutory filing fee, which tells you the size band of the estate you are looking at, and the county's own copy and search charges.

SCPA § 2402(7) sets the filing fee statewide, by the value of the estate or subject matter:

Read the bands exactly as the statute writes them, "X but under Y." An estate of exactly $500,000 falls in the top band at $1,250, not the one below it.

The filing fee is uniform statewide. Certification, copies and record searches are not. Manhattan's $30 and $90 mail search fees are the clearest example, and each county's records room sets its own schedule. Confirm before ordering a batch.

# How long does probate take in New York?

Longer than nine months in most cases, and the honest way to say that is from the statute rather than from a guess.

The Office of Court Administration does not publish settlement durations or per-county disposition times for Surrogate's Courts. What it does publish are fixed deadlines, and three of them stack in a way that makes a sub-nine-month settlement unusual.

That is an inference from the deadlines, not a survey of practitioners. Treat any specific month-count you read elsewhere, including in the earlier version of this article, as unsourced unless it names a court or a report.

The point that actually matters commercially is that a sale does not wait for the estate to close. Once letters testamentary issue, an executor generally has authority to contract for a sale under EPTL § 11-1.1(b)(5). The property can be listed, sold and closed while the creditor period is still running.

The Inventory deadline is also the most reliable filing on the docket. Rule 207.20 backs it with consequences: the court may refuse to issue certificates, revoke letters, or disallow commissions where a fiduciary does not file. It gets filed.

# How do you turn a New York probate filing into a real estate lead?

Be clear about what the file actually contains, because the most repeated piece of advice in this category is wrong.

1. Do not expect the Inventory to give you an address. The official Inventory of Assets form records each asset class against a value-category letter, A through G, running from under $10,000 up to $500,000 or over. There is no field for a property address, no itemised valuation and no appraisal. Real estate is a single line with a letter next to it. The Inventory tells you roughly how big the estate is. It does not tell you where the house is.

2. Get the address from the petition and the county. The petition states the decedent's domicile, which is frequently the estate property itself. Take that name and address to the county's property records and assessment roll to identify the parcel and the most recent owner of record. Where a sale is being sought on an intestate estate, an SCPA § 1902 proceeding will also name the property.

3. Read the file history, not just the first filing. Check whether letters have actually issued, whether the proceeding is probate or administration, whether a citation is still outstanding, and how many distributees were cited. On pre-2014 filings you will get the history online and have to read the documents at the courthouse.

4. Work out who can sign. For a testate estate, the executor named in the letters testamentary holds the power of sale. For an intestate estate, title vested in the distributees at death, so the administrator may need their consent or a court proceeding to convey. Ask which it is on the first call; it changes the whole conversation.

5. Go through the attorney where there is one. The attorney of record appears in the filing. In Manhattan, Brooklyn and Nassau in particular, most estates of any size have one, and estate attorneys carry several clients who need to sell. They refer the professionals they trust.

Outreach that explains the process outperforms outreach that asks for the listing. A first-time executor is dealing with a court proceeding, a creditor period, and a property they may not live near. A letter that explains what happens next and what their options are will do better than a solicitation, and it will still be doing better on the third contact six months later.

# Which New York counties does ProbateData cover?

Six: Erie, Kings, Nassau, New York, Queens and Richmond. That is four of the five New York City boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, plus Nassau County on Long Island and Erie County in Western New York.

Every lead is a verified court filing with a case number, not a death record or a pre-probate prediction. Each one carries the property records matched to the estate, the personal representative skip traced with mailing address, phone and email where available, the attorney of record where one is named, and MLS tracking so you can see whether the property has already listed.

The manual version of this is genuine work. WebSurrogate name searches across six counties, a courthouse trip for anything filed before February 2014, county property records to find the parcel the Inventory will not give you, and skip tracing after that. It works. It is also most of a working week each month, repeated.

You can see the full coverage list at probatedata.com/counties, or start a 7-day trial for $1 and search the New York counties directly.

For the wider method across every state, see the national guide to finding probate records by county.

# Frequently asked questions

Are New York probate records public?

Yes. Surrogate's Court filings are public records and anyone can search and inspect them without being an heir, a beneficiary or an attorney on the case. Public access is not the same as online access, though. Uniform Rule 207.64 took effect on 19 February 2014 and restricts certain records and confidential personal information, and it governs which scanned documents appear online.

How do you look up probate records in New York?

Start with WebSurrogate, the free statewide portal run by the Unified Court System, and search by decedent name in the county of domicile. It offers Name Search, File Search, Old Index Search, Will Search and Index Book Pages. Index and party data reaches back decades in most counties, but scanned document images are only available for filings made on or after 19 February 2014, so older documents are read at the courthouse.

Does WebSurrogate only cover records from 2014 onward?

No. That is the most common misreading of the system. The WebSurrogate help guide says it only provides links to document images filed on or after 19 February 2014. Case index data, file history, party lists and Old Index Search reach back much further, and the New York County database runs from 1964. Not every court has scanned its old index records, so a blank result is inconclusive rather than an answer.

What does it cost to file probate in New York?

SCPA 2402 sets a statewide filing fee by the value of the estate: $45 for less than $10,000, $75 for $10,000 but under $20,000, $215 for $20,000 but under $50,000, $280 for $50,000 but under $100,000, $420 for $100,000 but under $250,000, $625 for $250,000 but under $500,000, and $1,250 for $500,000 and over. An estate of exactly $500,000 falls in the top band. Counties charge separately for copies, certification and record searches.

How long does probate take in New York?

The Office of Court Administration does not publish settlement durations or per-county disposition times, so treat any specific month-count you see quoted as unsourced. What is fixed is the statutory schedule: the creditor claim period runs 7 months from the issue of letters under SCPA 1802, the Inventory of Assets is due within 9 months of letters issuing under Uniform Rule 207.20, and an estate tax return, where one is required, is due 9 months after death. Those deadlines make settlement in under nine months unusual.

Can a small estate with a house avoid probate in New York?

No. Voluntary Administration under SCPA 1301 is defined by personal property of $50,000 or less, and SCPA 1306 confines the voluntary administrator to personal property with no authority over real property at any value. If the estate contains real property that has to be sold or transferred, a full probate or administration proceeding is required regardless of what the property is worth.

Does a New York estate inventory list the property address?

No. The official Inventory of Assets form records each asset class against a value-category letter from A to G, running from under $10,000 up to $500,000 or over. There is no field for a property address, no itemised valuation and no appraisal. Real estate appears as a single line item with a letter beside it, so the address has to come from the petition and county property records.

Who can sell real property from a New York estate?

For a testate estate, the executor named in the letters testamentary holds a statutory power of sale under EPTL 11-1.1(b)(5), unless the will directs otherwise. For an intestate estate, title to real property vests in the distributees at death, so an administrator generally needs their consent or a proceeding under SCPA 1902 to convey. A sale does not have to wait for the estate to close.