Court of Probates in the United States

New York Court of Probates (1778-1823)

In New York, a Prerogative Court operated from 1686 to 1783 in the “British-occupied New York City, Long Island and Staten Island during the Revolutionary War. In 1778 the State Legislature established a Court of Probates, which assumed most of the colonial governor’s powers in probate matters. A 1787 statute established a Surrogate’s Court in each county. The Court of Probates’ jurisdiction was limited to hearing appeals from the Surrogate’s Courts; supervising estates of New York residents who died out of state, and of non- residents who died within the state; and issuing certain types of orders. The Court of Probates was abolished in 1823, and its remaining jurisdiction was given to the Surrogate’s Court. Between 1823 and 1847 appeals from the Surrogate’s Court went to the Court of Chancery. Since 1847 appeals from orders and decrees of the Surrogate’s Court have gone to the Supreme Court.

The pre-1787 records of the former Prerogative Court and the Court of Probates were divided in 1802: original wills and other filed papers relating to the “Southern District” (New York, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Richmond, and Westchester Counties) and all record books were transferred from Albany to the New York County Surrogate’s Court. Other filed papers of the Court of Probates remained in Albany. After the court was abolished, the Albany records passed into custody of the Secretary of State (1823-29), the Court of Chancery (1829-47), and the Court of Appeals (1847+).” (Probate Records, New York State Archives).

See Also

• Prerogative Court
• Court of Probates
• Surrogate’s Court
• Supreme Court of Judicature
• Court of Chancery
• Secretary of State’s Office
• Department of Taxation and Finance
• Probate

Further Reading

• John Arneson, “The Legal Angle in the Surrogate’s Office,” Tree Talks, 3 (1963), 7-9, 74-76.
• Rosalie F. Bailey, Guide to Genealogical and Biographical Sources for New York City (Manhattan), 1783-1898 (New York: 1954).
• Arlene H. Eakle and L. Ray Gunn, Descriptive Inventory of the New York Collection (Finding Aids to the Microfilmed Manuscript Collection of the Genealogical Society of Utah, Number 4) (Salt Lake City: 1980).
• Estelle M. Guzik, ed., Genealogical Resources in New York, rev. ed. (New York: 2003).
• Leo Hershkowitz, ed., Wills of Early New York Jews (1704-1799) (New York: 1967).
• Herbert A. Johnson, “The Prerogative Court of New York, 1686-1776,” American Journal of Legal History, 17 (1973), 95-144.
• Roger D. Joslyn, “New York [Probate Records],” Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources, ed. Alice Eichholz, rev. ed. (Salt Lake City: 1992), pp. 526-27.
• Harry Macy, Jr., “New York Probate Records before 1787,” The NYG&B Newsletter, 2:2 (Spring 1991), 11-15; “Library Resources for Research in New York Probate Records since 1787,” same, 3:1 (Spring 1992) , 3-7.
• David E. Narrett, Inheritance and Family Life in Colonial New York City (Ithaca: 1992).
• Franklin C. Setaro, “The Surrogate’s Court of New York: Its Historical Antecedents,” New York Law Forum, 2 (1956), 283-304.
• Royden W. Vosburgh, “Surrogates’ Courts and Records in the Colony and State of New York, 1664-1847,” Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Association, 3 (1922), 105-116.