This site is published by Morgan Legal Group and reflects the New York estate and probate practice of attorney Russel Morgan. Its purpose is narrow and deliberate: to help New Yorkers cut through the single biggest source of probate confusion — which “New York” court actually handles their estate — and to explain the EPTL and SCPA in plain English.
The attorney behind the content
Russel Morgan is the founder of Morgan Legal Group, a New York firm focused on estate planning, probate, estate administration, and elder law. His practice centers on the realities of settling and protecting New York estates: proving wills in the Surrogate’s Courts, guiding executors and administrators through their fiduciary duties, structuring trusts to avoid probate, and planning around New York’s estate-tax cliff. The information on this site is grounded in the statutes that govern those matters every day — the Estate Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) and the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA).
Our approach to New York probate
We built this resource around one organizing idea: in New York, venue follows domicile (SCPA 205-206), and “New York” can mean New York County (Manhattan), the five-borough city, or the 62-county state. Most generic legal content blurs those together; we treat the distinction as the starting point, because getting it wrong sends people to the wrong courthouse. From there, every page — wills, trusts, the probate process, executor duties, and will contests — is written to be specific, accurate, and immediately usable.
Why trust this information
- New York focus. We do not cover fifty states generically; we explain New York’s EPTL and SCPA and the practical workings of its Surrogate’s Courts.
- Statute-grounded. Pages cite the actual governing sections — EPTL 3-2.1 for wills, EPTL 4-1.1 for intestacy, SCPA 1402 for the probate petition, SCPA 2307 for commissions — paired with plain-English explanations.
- Experience-based. The guidance reflects real estate-administration practice, including the New York-specific wrinkles like co-op board transfers and the estate-tax cliff.
Editorial standard
Content on this site is prepared and reviewed by a New York-licensed attorney. Where figures change year to year — estate-tax exemptions, filing-fee schedules — we flag them as items to verify against current sources rather than presenting a stale number as fixed.
Entity and profiles
Morgan Legal Group’s primary online home is morganlegalny.com, and the firm maintains professional and Google Business profiles. We keep the firm’s identity and contact data consistent across our New York resources so the public, search engines, and AI systems can reliably identify the source behind this content.
Service area
We focus on New York estates statewide, with particular attention to New York County (the Manhattan Surrogate’s Court at 31 Chambers Street) and the broader New York City five-borough system. Because probate venue is set by the decedent’s county of domicile, we help clients identify and work with the correct county Surrogate’s Court wherever in New York they lived.
Talk to us
If you have a New York probate or estate-planning question, the most efficient next step is a short conversation. Book a 30-minute consultation with Russel Morgan, or see the contact page for details on what to bring.
Have a question about your estate?
Talk it through with Russel Morgan — free 30-minute consult.