NY-How to find out if will has been probated

New York:

My husband's Grandmother died in December. We are in the will yet have not received a copy or anything since her death. Another relative-the son of the deceased/Granny who is not an executor or even in the will-his kids are for a nominal amount) sent us a copy HE received from one of the executors. No one is speakig to one another and I want to find out from the courthouse what is going on. The reason there is fighting is because she bypassed her 5 children, then gave one cousin out of 13 (Executor 1) a half-million dollar house when she was alive, and Executor #2 (his brother) and thir sister received at least $100K during her lifetime. All three of them will also receive a considerable amount from the will. The other cousins got $10K each.

We need the money and are wondering what the next step is, short of hiring a lawyer.

Call the Recorder's office in the county where she died. They will have a true and certified copy of the will. Next, call the county court and ask them who handles probate actions. Call that court and ask if a probate action has been filed for granny.

If it has, ask for a true and certified copy of the file. There will be postage and copying charges but this is public information.

This is true.

I recently found out that a lot of things I thought were
private is public information. Our clerk and master's office
has been helpful with me but I don't know if they have wills there or its another dept.

Please mention what city that the death occurred in so we can find the address and phone number of the probate court/surrogate court you need to contact. With New York and its different boroughs (instead of counties as in other states), they are strict about exactly which borough handles various court matters.

Let's hope that the language of the will that bypassed the children (I assume you mean she disinherited them by leaving them a small amount or nothing at all) is written strongly enough so that it would prevent the children from contesting because they didn't get anything. If they contest it will hold up the probate even longer until the contest is settled. You may also want to ask someone at the courthouse what the name of the newspaper is in that area that carries announcements of upcoming probate hearings (whether it is a legal newspaper or a regular daily newspaper) so that you can watch the classified ads to see when the next probate hearing is for this and attend it in person if you are able to in order to keep informed about what is being done with this estate.

Certainly hope everything works out well for you and that you receive your check in a timely manner in a couple of weeks or so!!

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

In New York, it is called 'Surrogates Court'. Contact the county where she lived and see if a case file was opened for her estate.

A copy of the blank form can be found at:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courthelp/forms_pdf/Probate_.pdf

Died in Dutchess County (in December!)

Thanks Don. I can not believe how long this is taking-I have vet bills + tuition to pay!

Vet bills?

Do you rescue animals? That's wonderful!

NYrescuer said:

Thanks Don. I can not believe how long this is taking-I have vet bills + tuition to pay!

Click to expand...

Just curious.... what did Don do??
He sure as hell didn't do anything in this thread, other than ask you what county/borough might apply.

Thank you for your kind words, nyrescuer. You can contact the DUTCHESS COUNTY CLERK, 22 MARKET ST., POUGHKEEPSIE, NY 12601 for more information about court records or call (845) 486-2120, or e-mail the county clerk herself (Colette Lafuente) at "[email protected]". If you had mentioned the name of the decedent and month and year of death it is also possible to check online records.

NY-how do I find records on-line

And yes, I do animal rescue-thanks!

Animal Rescuer

This has nothing to do with your original post but I and my whole family love
animals. My sister and brother-in-law feed feral (sp?) cats and trap them
when possible to get them spayed and neutered to help with over-population.
Next week my daughter will house sit for them while they vacation in Europe.
She will take care of their cats and the strays also.