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Rockland County, NY Probate Information
Quick facts
| Category | Current rules |
|---|---|
| Court | Rockland County Surrogate's Court, one of the 62 county Surrogate's Courts in New York; there is no separate probate court, register of wills, or probate division of another court |
| Courthouse | Rockland County Courthouse, 1 South Main Street, New City, NY 10956 |
| Filing office | The office of the Chief Clerk of the Surrogate's Court, at the Rockland County Courthouse |
| Phone | (845) 483-8260 |
| Fax | (914) 358-8067 |
| [email protected] | |
| Hours | Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; closed weekends and state holidays |
| Filing fee | Set by statute on a sliding scale keyed to the value of the estate, from $45 for an estate under $10,000 to $1,250 for an estate of $500,000 or more (SCPA 2402, uniform statewide, verified July 2026); $1 for a small estate handled by voluntary administration (SCPA 1304(4), verified July 2026). Uniform in every county; there is no Rockland County add-on |
| Local forms | New York uses one statewide set of official Surrogate's Court forms in every county, including Form P-1 (Petition for Probate) and Form A-1 (Petition for Letters of Administration); the small estate document is the Affidavit of Voluntary Administration. There is no Rockland County only form set |
| E-filing | NYSCEF (New York State Courts Electronic Filing) is mandatory for attorneys in probate, administration, small estate, accounting, and miscellaneous proceedings, and consensual (voluntary) in guardianship proceedings. A self-represented filer is exempt from mandatory e-filing but may choose to participate, or file on paper in person or by mail |
| Case search | WebSurrogate, the statewide Surrogate's Court case search at websurrogates.nycourts.gov (coverage varies by county); e-filed cases also appear in the NYSCEF case search at iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/CaseSearch |
| Remote appearance | Not published for Rockland County; confirm the format for any appearance with the assigned Surrogate's part |
| Website | https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/9th-judicial-district/rockland-surrogates-court |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
The most common Rockland County misstep is filing before you know what the estate holds and which proceeding fits. New York has three ordinary paths: a probate proceeding when there is a will (Surrogate's Court Procedure Act, SCPA, Article 14), an administration proceeding when there is no will (SCPA Article 10), and voluntary administration for a qualifying small estate (SCPA Article 13, SCPA 1301). Which one applies turns on whether there is a will and on the value and type of the assets; the statewide thresholds are covered on the New York state page. A jointly owned Rockland home or a beneficiary-designated account often passes outside the estate, so the estate that actually goes through the Surrogate's Court can be smaller than the family expects.
Before you file, identify every bank, credit-union, brokerage, and retirement account, life-insurance policy, cooperative or condominium interest, and parcel of Rockland County real estate, along with every debt, and identify each distributee (the decedent's heirs at law) by name. Only then can you pick the right proceeding, calculate the correct filing fee, and decide whether counsel is needed. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step.
Which court handles jurisdiction
The Rockland County Surrogate's Court serves all of Rockland County, the suburban county on the west side of the Hudson River just north of New Jersey and New York City. Every Rockland probate and administration is filed here, at the office of the Chief Clerk of the Surrogate's Court in the Rockland County Courthouse, 1 South Main Street in New City, which serves the county's five towns, Clarkstown, Haverstraw, Orangetown, Ramapo, and Stony Point, and communities among them New City, Nyack, Suffern, Spring Valley, and Pearl River. Under New York's venue rule, the proper county is the one where the decedent was domiciled at death (SCPA 205); for a decedent who was not a New York domiciliary but left property in the state, venue lies where the property is located (SCPA 206), which is the basis for an ancillary proceeding. So the estate of a Rockland resident, or one holding Rockland real property, is filed at this courthouse.
Rockland is part of the Ninth Judicial District, which also covers Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, and Westchester counties, though probate is always filed in the decedent's own county, not in the district. The court publishes its own e-filing protocol and part rules on its nycourts.gov page. The Surrogate is elected and the court's judges change over time, so this page refers to the Surrogate's Court and the assigned part rather than to the sitting judge.
The jurisdiction process
- Confirm venue. The Rockland County Surrogate's Court is the right court when the decedent was domiciled in Rockland County at death (SCPA 205). The court accepts filings only for decedents who resided in Rockland County or who left property or a cause of action here; an out-of-state will already admitted elsewhere is handled by an ancillary proceeding (SCPA 206).
- Choose the proceeding and the form. With a will, the named executor files Form P-1, the petition for probate, and the court issues Letters Testamentary (SCPA Article 14). With no will, a distributee files Form A-1, the petition for letters of administration, and the court issues Letters of Administration to the administrator; priority to serve is set by SCPA 1001 (SCPA Article 10). A qualifying small estate uses the Affidavit of Voluntary Administration (SCPA Article 13, SCPA 1301). The statewide thresholds are on the New York state page.
- Gather what the court needs: the original will (if any), a certified copy of the death certificate, a list of the estate's assets and debts, and the names and addresses of the distributees. Notice is given either by their signed waivers and consents or by a citation the court issues.
- File with the Surrogate's Court. NYSCEF e-filing is mandatory for attorneys in probate, administration, small estate, accounting, and miscellaneous proceedings, and consensual in guardianship proceedings; a self-represented filer is exempt but may opt in, or file on paper in person or by mail at 1 South Main Street, New City. If you e-file, scan the original will without unstapling it and file the original paper will with the court within three business days, and file a certified death certificate in hard copy within three business days. Bonds and recorded instruments are submitted on paper with a check rather than e-filed, because they require a judicial signature or recording. The court will not accept e-filed documents in a matter that was commenced on paper unless the clerk's office directs it.
- Pay the filing fee. The fee is set by statute on a sliding scale keyed to the estate's value, from $45 for an estate under $10,000 to $1,250 for an estate of $500,000 or more (SCPA 2402, uniform statewide, verified July 2026); a small estate handled by voluntary administration is $1 (SCPA 1304(4)). Pay by credit card through NYSCEF, which adds a card fee, or by check or money order at the court.
- Give notice to the distributees. File their signed waivers and consents, or submit a proposed citation, which is filed through NYSCEF in an e-filed matter; the court completes the citation and posts it, and you then print and serve it under the SCPA.
- Attend if a hearing is set. An uncontested probate or administration is often decided on the papers; a contested matter, such as an objection to probate (SCPA 1410), is heard by the Surrogate. Confirm the format and date with the assigned part.
- Receive authority. The court issues Letters Testamentary (with a will), Letters of Administration (no will), or Letters of Voluntary Administration (small estate). A certified copy of the letters is the proof banks and transfer agents rely on, so request enough certified copies for the institutions involved.
- Administer and close. Collect the assets, address creditor claims (a fiduciary who distributes more than seven months after letters were issued is protected against claims that were not presented within that seven-month window (SCPA 1802)), account to the interested parties, and distribute what remains to the beneficiaries or distributees.
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Rockland County
New York uses one statewide set of official Surrogate's Court forms, and the same forms are filed in Rockland County as in every other county's Surrogate's Court; there is no separate Rockland County form set. The load-bearing filings are Form P-1, the Petition for Probate, used when there is a will, and Form A-1, the Petition for Letters of Administration, used when there is no will. A qualifying small estate is filed on the Affidavit of Voluntary Administration, also called the small estate affidavit. Common companions include the notice of probate, waivers and consents, and the affidavits of attesting witnesses.
The official forms are published on the statewide Surrogate's Court forms hub at nycourts.gov/surrogates-court-forms. Self-represented filers can also use the New York CourtHelp Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Form programs; the Small Estate DIY program builds a completed Affidavit of Voluntary Administration for a qualifying estate.
Rockland takes these forms through NYSCEF, which is mandatory for attorneys in probate, administration, small estate, accounting, and miscellaneous proceedings, or on paper at the Chief Clerk's office in the Rockland County Courthouse. The original will is not left to an upload alone: if you e-file, scan the will without unstapling it and file the original paper will with the court, and file a certified death certificate in hard copy.
Local nuance
Rockland County-specific considerations
E-filing is mandatory for attorneys across most proceedings. NYSCEF e-filing in the Rockland County Surrogate's Court is mandatory for a party represented by counsel in all new probate, administration, small estate, accounting, and miscellaneous proceedings; an attorney may opt out only by certifying a lack of the equipment or knowledge needed to e-file, or for good cause. E-filing is consensual (voluntary) in guardianship proceedings. Mandatory Surrogate's Court e-filing for attorneys took effect here on February 16, 2021.
Small estates are in the mandatory set here. Rockland treats small estate proceedings as part of the mandatory e-filing regime for represented parties, which is stricter than the neighboring Westchester County Surrogate's Court in the same Ninth Judicial District, where small estate and guardianship matters are consensual. If an attorney files a Rockland small estate, it is e-filed through NYSCEF as a matter of course; a self-represented filer, by contrast, is exempt and may file the Affidavit of Voluntary Administration on paper or opt into NYSCEF.
Self-represented filers are exempt but may participate. An unrepresented litigant is exempt from mandatory e-filing and may file on paper in person or by mail at 1 South Main Street, New City, but may also choose to opt into NYSCEF. A proposed intervenor who is not an attorney, and an unrepresented non-party, are likewise exempt from the e-filing requirement.
Some documents travel on paper even in an e-filed case. Even when a proceeding is e-filed, the original will must be scanned without being unstapled and then filed with the court in paper within three business days of e-filing, and a certified copy of the death certificate must be filed in hard copy within three business days; the court's protocol warns that the proceeding may be dismissed if either is not submitted. Bonds and recorded instruments are submitted on paper with a check, not through NYSCEF, because they require a judicial signature or recording before they take effect.
Watch the initiating-document selection when you e-file. The court's protocol flags two common NYSCEF errors: when a will is offered for probate and letters of trusteeship are requested in the probate petition, select the probate petition as the initiating document rather than a testamentary-trust option, to avoid an extra fee; and when preliminary letters testamentary are sought, select the probate petition, not a preliminary-probate option, or the filing will be removed.
Recent updates
| Change | What happened |
|---|---|
| Mandatory e-filing for attorneys (effective February 16, 2021) | The Rockland County Surrogate's Court moved to mandatory NYSCEF e-filing for parties represented by counsel in probate, administration, and related miscellaneous proceedings; the current court protocol states the mandatory set now also covers small estate and accounting proceedings, while guardianship remains consensual. Self-represented litigants are exempt but may opt in |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Rockland County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | A Rockland home held by the spouses jointly with right of survivorship, or as tenants by the entirety, generally passes to the surviving spouse outside the estate; the survivor records or presents the death certificate to transfer title. Accounts and property in the decedent's sole name may still need a probate proceeding (Form P-1) if there is a will, or an administration proceeding (Form A-1) if there is not, filed at the Rockland County Surrogate's Court, where NYSCEF is mandatory for an attorney handling either proceeding. | Asset discovery to separate what passed outside the estate from what did not. Packet generation for the P-1 or A-1 petition and the notice and consent forms. A vetted Rockland County probate attorney if the estate is contested or complex. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | If the parent was domiciled in Rockland and left a qualifying small estate of limited personal property with no solely owned real property, the child can use voluntary administration (SCPA Article 13, SCPA 1301) on the Affidavit of Voluntary Administration for a $1 filing fee (SCPA 1304(4)), and the CourtHelp DIY Small Estate program builds the form. A self-represented out-of-state child is exempt from mandatory e-filing and can file on paper by mail or opt into NYSCEF; if an attorney handles the small estate, it must be e-filed. A larger estate is filed as an administration proceeding (Form A-1). | Asset discovery to confirm the estate fits the small estate path and holds no solely owned real property. Packet generation for the Affidavit of Voluntary Administration or the A-1 petition, formatted for NYSCEF. Attorney referral if the estate turns out to be larger or contested. |
| Parent settling a predeceased child's estate, home must be sold | An administration proceeding at the Rockland County Surrogate's Court. Because there is no will, the parent petitions for letters of administration (Form A-1), with priority among distributees set by SCPA 1001, and the court issues Letters of Administration. The administrator then obtains the authority needed to sell the child's Rockland County real property before the deed can transfer, and a contested step is heard by the Surrogate. An attorney handling the administration must e-file through NYSCEF. | Asset discovery for the child's accounts and property. Packet generation for the administration petition and the sale papers. A vetted Rockland County probate attorney to run the administration and any contested step. |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Rockland County Surrogate's Court (nycourts.gov/courts/9th-judicial-district/rockland-surrogates-court) | The court's own page: address, hours, contact, the e-filing protocol, and part rules |
| New York CourtHelp, When Someone Dies (nycourts.gov/courthelp/WhenSomeoneDies/overview.shtml and /probate.shtml) | Plain-language statewide overviews of probate, administration, and small estates |
| New York CourtHelp DIY Small Estate program (nycourts.gov/courthelp/diy/smallestate.shtml) | A free guided program that builds a completed Affidavit of Voluntary Administration for a qualifying small estate |
| Statewide Surrogate's Court forms (nycourts.gov/surrogates-court-forms) | The official statewide forms, including Form P-1 and Form A-1 and their companions |
| NYSCEF e-filing and case search (iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef) | Registration and help for e-filing in the Rockland County Surrogate's Court, plus a case search for e-filed cases |
| WebSurrogate (websurrogates.nycourts.gov) | The statewide Surrogate's Court public case search; coverage varies by county |
| Legal Services of the Hudson Valley (lshv.org) | Free civil legal help for income-eligible residents of Rockland and the lower Hudson Valley, including estate and probate matters |
| LawHelpNY (lawhelpny.org) | Self-help legal information and routing to legal aid statewide |
| Rockland County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service (rocklandbar.org) | Referral to a Rockland County attorney for a probate or estate matter |
When to hire an attorney
New York does not require an attorney to file a probate or administration proceeding, and many straightforward Rockland estates are handled with the statewide forms and the DIY Small Estate program. Counsel makes sense when the will is contested or an interested party files objections to probate (SCPA 1410); when the estate is large, taxable, or holds a business interest or out-of-state property; when Rockland County real property, a cooperative, or a condominium must be sold; when the heirs are unknown or hard to prove and a kinship question arises; or when the fiduciary faces a dispute over accounting or removal. Because e-filing is mandatory for attorneys across most Rockland proceedings, an estate handled by counsel is filed through NYSCEF as a matter of course. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Rockland County probate attorney when the situation calls for counsel.
How Sunset helps
Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and public records to surface bank and credit-union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Rockland County real estate and cooperative interests, business interests, and unclaimed property, so you know the estate's value for estate settlement and can pick the right New York proceeding before you file.
Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the Rockland County filing: the petition for probate (Form P-1) or letters of administration (Form A-1), or the Affidavit of Voluntary Administration for a small estate, with the notice and consent forms, formatted for NYSCEF or for the Chief Clerk's office at 1 South Main Street, New City.
Find a local probate attorney. When an estate is contested, taxable, or otherwise calls for counsel, Sunset connects families to a vetted Rockland County probate attorney to file and appear.
Sunset is free for families. Revenue comes from bank partners that pay Sunset while estate funds sit in an FDIC-insured estate account ($3M coverage).
Frequently asked questions
Where do I file probate in Rockland County?
With the Rockland County Surrogate's Court, at the office of the Chief Clerk in the Rockland County Courthouse, 1 South Main Street, New City, NY 10956. You reach the court at (845) 483-8260. An attorney must e-file most proceedings through NYSCEF; a self-represented filer may e-file, or file on paper in person or by mail.
Is e-filing required in the Rockland County Surrogate's Court?
For attorneys, yes, across most proceedings. NYSCEF e-filing is mandatory for a party represented by counsel in probate, administration, small estate, accounting, and miscellaneous proceedings, and consensual in guardianship proceedings. Mandatory Surrogate's Court e-filing for attorneys took effect here on February 16, 2021. A self-represented litigant is exempt but may choose to participate, or file on paper.
Does a Rockland small estate have to be e-filed?
It depends on who files. If an attorney represents the filer, a small estate (voluntary administration) is in the mandatory e-filing set in Rockland County, so it is e-filed through NYSCEF; this is stricter than neighboring Westchester, where small estates are consensual. A self-represented person is exempt from mandatory e-filing and may file the Affidavit of Voluntary Administration on paper by mail or in person, or opt into NYSCEF.
How much does it cost to file probate in Rockland County?
The filing fee is set by statute on a sliding scale keyed to the value of the estate, from $45 for an estate under $10,000 to $1,250 for an estate of $500,000 or more, and it is the same in every county (SCPA 2402, verified July 2026). A small estate handled by voluntary administration is $1 (SCPA 1304(4)). NYSCEF adds a card fee for paying by credit card.
Can I file a Rockland probate from out of state?
Often, yes. A self-represented out-of-state filer may file on paper by mail to the Rockland County Surrogate's Court, or opt into NYSCEF and file electronically. An attorney handling the estate must e-file through NYSCEF. If you e-file, the original paper will must still be filed with the court, and a certified death certificate filed in hard copy.
Do I have to appear in person for a Rockland County probate?
It depends on the proceeding. An uncontested probate or administration is often decided on the papers. A contested matter, such as an objection to probate (SCPA 1410), is heard by the Surrogate. A remote-appearance option is not published for Rockland County, so confirm the format for your appearance with the assigned Surrogate's part.
How do I look up a Rockland County probate case?
Use WebSurrogate, the statewide Surrogate's Court case search at websurrogates.nycourts.gov, though coverage varies by county. E-filed cases also appear in the NYSCEF case search at iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/CaseSearch. To confirm a specific filing you can also call the Surrogate's Court at (845) 483-8260.
What forms do I use for Rockland County probate?
The official statewide Surrogate's Court forms, the same set used in every county. The core filings are Form P-1 (Petition for Probate) when there is a will and Form A-1 (Petition for Letters of Administration) when there is not, and the Affidavit of Voluntary Administration for a small estate. They are on the statewide forms hub at nycourts.gov/surrogates-court-forms, and the CourtHelp DIY Small Estate program builds the small estate affidavit.
How do I file the original will in Rockland County?
The original will is filed with the Surrogate's Court. If you e-file the proceeding through NYSCEF, scan the will without unstapling it and file the original paper will with the court within three business days, and a certified death certificate must also be filed in hard copy within three business days. Bonds and recorded instruments are submitted on paper with a check rather than e-filed.
Shaped by the families we've helped
Thank you to the thousands of families who have trusted Sunset to help settle their loved ones' estates. This page is shaped by the questions they actually asked and the obstacles they actually hit — and that hard-won experience is what keeps it accurate, current, and genuinely useful to the families who come next.