Probate · NY
New York probate: fees and how long it takes
New York pays executors a sliding commission under SCPA § 2307, leaves lawyers to the Surrogate, and asks creditors to come forward within 7 months of letters.
Rules read on official New York pages on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- Creditor claim period
- 7 months
- Small-estate limit
- $50,000
- Executor and attorney fees
- Set by statute
- Statutory fees, $500,000 estate
- $19,000
New York probate fees have one fixed part and one negotiated part: the executor's commission under SCPA § 2307 is 5% of the first $100,000, 4% of the next $200,000, 3% of the next $700,000 and lower beyond, which comes to $16,000 on $400,000 received and paid out, while the lawyer's fee is whatever the Surrogate's Court finds reasonable. The court's own filing fee climbs with the gross estate, from $45 for the smallest to $1,250 at $500,000 and above. On timing, creditors are expected to present claims within 7 months after letters are first issued, and an executor who distributes before then does so at personal risk, so most New York estates stay open at least that long after letters. Counting the months before letters issue, which in New York City Surrogate's Courts can be considerable, and the time to sell real property, even an uncontested estate usually runs well past that point. Personal property of $50,000 or less can go through voluntary administration instead.
Statutory fees and court fee in New York
$19,000
3.8% of the estate · at least 13 months before final distribution
| Executor/administrator commission (SCPA § 2307) | $19,000 |
| Court filing fee | set by the county |
| Creditor claim period | 7 months |
| Small-estate limit | $50,000 |
Estimate under the New York probate statutes. Publication, bond, appraisal, extraordinary services and the estate's own taxes are extra. How this is calculated.
Commissions are paid on money that moves
Section 2307 does not pay the executor on the size of the estate as such. It pays on sums received and paid out, half of the commission for receiving and half for paying, and it leaves specific legacies and devises out of the base. That second rule changes real results. Take a Brooklyn estate worth $950,000 in which the will leaves a $350,000 co-op apartment to a named niece. The apartment passes as a specific bequest and earns no commission, so the base is $600,000 and the executor's full commission is $22,000, not the $32,500 the schedule would give on the whole estate. Property the executor receives but never pays out, because it stays in a continuing trust for example, earns only the receiving half, here $11,000 if nothing were distributed.
Commissions are taxable to the executor. A child who is executor and sole heir often waives them, since the same dollars arrive tax-free as an inheritance. When there are several executors on a larger estate, the statute allows more than one commission; the calculator shows a single one.
The lawyer's fee is the Surrogate's call
New York has no attorney percentage. Under SCPA § 2110 the Surrogate's Court can fix the attorney's compensation on application, and it looks at the time spent, the difficulty, the amount involved and the results. Any figure of the kind "the attorney charges X percent" is a private agreement, not law, and the court can cut it when a beneficiary objects.
Voluntary administration and its blind spot
The small-estate route under SCPA Article 13 is a short filing with the Surrogate's Court that names a voluntary administrator, who then collects and distributes. It covers personal property of $50,000 or less, with property set off to the family excluded, and there is no waiting period after death. Real estate cannot go through it: a house titled in the decedent's name alone sends the family to full probate or administration whatever its value. The $50,000 figure has not been indexed; the latest revision date shown for SCPA § 1301 on the Senate site is late 2019, which is not necessarily when the limit took effect.
What stretches a New York probate
Before letters issue, every distributee must be served with citation or sign a waiver, and finding cousins in an intestate estate can take months. Kinship hearings, a will objection filed in the Surrogate's Court, and the sale of a co-op that needs board approval are the classic delays. The 7-month window under SCPA § 1802 then runs from letters, not from death. Maryland, by contrast, counts its claim period from the date of death.
The New York probate rules this calculator applies
| Estate value | Executor/administrator commission (SCPA § 2307) |
|---|---|
| $100,000 | $5,000 |
| $250,000 | $11,000 |
| $500,000 | $19,000 |
| $1,000,000 | $34,000 |
| $2,000,000 | $59,000 |
Creditor claims. Creditors should present claims within 7 months from the date letters are first issued to any fiduciary; a fiduciary who in good faith pays claims or distributes after that period is not liable for claims presented later (SCPA § 1802). source
Closing the estate. Distribution before the 7-month claims period of SCPA § 1802 runs is at the fiduciary's own risk, so estates are generally not closed before 7 months after letters issue (SCPA § 1802). source
Small estates. Voluntary administration (small estate) under SCPA Article 13 is available when the decedent's personal property has a gross value of $50,000 or less, excluding property set off to the family under EPTL 5-3.1(a) (SCPA § 1301); no waiting period after death is required (SCPA § 1304). The amount is not indexed. source
Simplified procedure. Summary procedure by voluntary administrator (small estate affidavit filed with the Surrogate's Court) for personal property of $50,000 or less (SCPA §§ 1301, 1304); real property cannot pass through this procedure. source
Filing fee. Surrogate's Court fee on a petition for probate or letters depends on the gross estate: under $10,000 $45; $10,000 to under $20,000 $75; $20,000 to under $50,000 $215; $50,000 to under $100,000 $280; $100,000 to under $250,000 $420; $250,000 to under $500,000 $625; $500,000 and over $1,250 (SCPA § 2402(7)). source
Personal representative. Executor/administrator commissions on sums received and paid out: 5% of the first $100,000, 4% of the next $200,000, 3% of the next $700,000, 2.5% of the next $4,000,000, 2% above $5,000,000, computed half on receiving and half on paying out; specific legacies and devises are excluded from the base (SCPA § 2307). source
Attorney. No statutory schedule: the Surrogate's Court may fix and determine the compensation of the attorney for services rendered to the fiduciary (SCPA § 2110). source
Executor/administrator commission (SCPA § 2307). 5% of the first $100,000, 4% of the next $200,000, 3% of the next $700,000, 2.5% of the next $4,000,000, 2% of all sums above $5,000,000; computed one-half on receiving and one-half on paying out (SCPA § 2307(1)). source