About the New York Surrogate’s Court Monitor
New York’s Surrogate’s Courts are courts of custom and countless undocumented practices with no central depository or database memorializing these informal rules.
The Monitor investigates and reports the secret, hidden, and unwritten rules of New York’s difficult to navigate probate court.
Secret rules are the unpublished, idiosyncratic rules of the Surrogate’s Court, the best of which anyone can tell, are unwritten, but certainly are not shared publicly or are accessed easily.
Hidden rules are written, published, and known rules, but are often overlooked.
The Monitor also provides news, analysis, overviews, how-tos, and substantive information about Surrogate’s Court for attorneys, fiduciaries, beneficiaries, court personnel, and the general public.
This blog is a team effort. You are encouraged and welcome to contribute by sending secret and hidden rules discovered, upcoming CLEs and events, and by publishing articles.
About the Author
I am an estate litigation and adult guardianship attorney in New York City. I author the Adult Guardianship Law Blog and New York Surrogate’s Court Monitor.
I routinely handle will contests, turnover proceedings, contested accounting proceedings, creditors’ claims against estates, kinship proceedings, wrongful death compromise proceedings, and a variety of other matters in Surrogate’s Court. I am also regularly appointed as a Guardian ad Litem.
During law school, I interned in Richmond County Surrogate’s Court, where I played a leading role in drafting a judicial decision regarding a guardianship dispute. I was honored to be invited back in 2019 to speak with college students and law students interning at the court.
I have made the following presentations, and have taught the following Continuing Legal Education courses, on Surrogate’s Court and trusts and estates:
- Real Estate and Estate Planning Strategies
National Law Institute
Continuing Education for Real Estate Agents
(Co-Instructor Jennifer Weisser, Esq.)
December 4, 2018 - Defensive Estate Planning: Strategies, Techniques, and Best Practices
National Law Institute
Continuing Legal Education
June 25, 2019
January 15, 2019 - Presentation to Surrogate’s Court interns about law school admissions, law practice management, and the day-to-day life of a lawyer
Richmond County Surrogate’s Court
July 1, 2019 - Administering Real Property in a Decedent’s Estate in New York
Lawline
Continuing Legal Education
July 28, 2020 - Defensive Estate Planning: Avoiding Conflict, Abuse, and Litigation
Lawline
Continuing Legal Education
December 1, 2020 - Administering Real Property in a Decedent’s Estate in NY
New York State Land Title Association, Inc.
Continuing Legal Education/Continuing Education
April 13, 2022 - Administration of Real Property in New York Estates
LawPracticeCLE LLC
Continuing Legal Education
November 1, 2021 - Kinship Proceedings in New York Surrogate’s Court
Quimbee
Continuing Legal Education
January, 2023
My article, Interposing Mistake as an Objection to Probate, is published in the New York State Bar Association’s Elder Law and Trusts and Estates Law Section Newsletter.
Prior to my career as an attorney, I worked as a political reporter for Politicker.com, providing political coverage from the floors of the 2008 Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Following my departure, I was lauded as an “omnipresent” reporter by the Baltimore Sun.
I live and work in New York City and practice throughout the entire state of New York.