Probate Lawyer in Queens, NY

Probate is the court process by which New York confirms that a will is valid, then works through what happens to the property. The Surrogate’s Court accepts the will, an executor or administrator is appointed, assets are gathered and valued, creditors are notified and paid, and whatever is left is distributed to the people named in the will — or, if there is no will, to the people New York law names.

New York requires a waiting period to pass after a death before most probate petitions may be filed, so no estate is settled immediately. Beyond that statutory period, a full administration commonly takes many months rather than weeks, and the honest answer is that nobody can promise you a date in advance. What actually drives the length is the size and complexity of the estate, whether property has to be sold, whether the will is contested, whether creditor claims and tax filings need attention, and how the Surrogate’s Court calendar is running. If you have been given a specific deadline, tell me — that changes the order of work substantially.

Without a will, New York’s intestacy laws decide who inherits. The distribution is set by statute: a surviving spouse and descendants come first, and if there are no descendants the estate passes outward through parents, then brothers and sisters, and so on. It also becomes harder to know which assets pass through probate at all. In a blended family, or where a partner is not legally married, or where there are children from more than one relationship, intestacy can produce a result nobody in the family would have chosen. A properly executed will removes that uncertainty.

No, and this is the single most useful thing to establish early. A small estate may qualify for simplified administration, which is a much lighter process. And any asset that is properly titled — in a revocable trust, as a beneficiary of a retirement account, or with a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designation — generally passes to that beneficiary without probate at all. The reason to look carefully is that a great deal of what families own is titled in ways that defeat their plan. A house held only in the deceased’s name, for example, usually does go through probate.

An executor is the person named in the will whose job is to carry it out. In practice that means gathering the paperwork, identifying and valuing the estate’s assets, securing and valuing the property, paying creditors and taxes in the right order, keeping careful records, filing an inventory and then accountings with the court, and finally distributing what remains. The Surrogate’s Court supervises this. It is a substantial administrative job with real legal duties attached, and it is quite common for an executor to hire a lawyer to handle the court work while they continue to manage the estate.

Yes. New York law recognises several grounds for challenging a will, including that the person lacked capacity when it was signed, that someone exerted undue influence, that there was fraud or forgery, or that the execution itself was defective. Time matters: a contest generally has to be brought within a statutory window after the will is admitted to probate, which is a deadline that passes whether or not anyone knows about it. Whether contesting a will is realistic depends on the facts and the evidence, and it is expensive. I represent people on both sides — defending a will that is being challenged and bringing a challenge where the facts support one — and I will give you an honest read on which you are dealing with.

A will is a set of instructions that take effect after death. It says who gets what, and it names guardians for any minor children. It is a public document, and assets passing under it generally go through probate. A trust is different in kind: you transfer assets to a trustee who holds them for beneficiaries. Properly funded, those assets pass outside probate, the transfer is usually private, and — this is the part people most often overlook — you can set conditions and timing, so a beneficiary might receive income while they are young and the principal later. Many families use both. Which combination suits you depends on what you own, who your beneficiaries are, and how much privacy and control matter to you.

Most families who come to me need both, but the right answer genuinely depends on the estate. If you have a home, retirement accounts, a life insurance policy and minor children, you almost certainly need a will at minimum. A revocable trust becomes worth considering once there are assets of meaningful size, a desire to avoid probate, real concerns about privacy, or beneficiaries who need age or timing controls. A good plan also covers the things a will cannot: who decides for you financially if you cannot, and who decides for you medically. Those are a power of attorney and a health care proxy.

Choose for two things at once: trust and capability. The executor has to keep track of every asset, deal with banks and the court, and often manage a property. Spouses and adult children are common choices, and a lawyer or accountant can be appointed where you want neutrality or do not want the burden on a family member. Two practical points people are often surprised by. First, an executor who is willing on paper but lives in another state or overseas adds cost and delay, because court process generally runs where the person serving. Second, whoever you pick should be someone who will still be willing and reachable in five years’ time. I can walk you through the tradeoffs for your specific family.