Each New York county has a Surrogate's Court, which has jurisdiction over the estates of deceased persons. Records in the estate file are public and provide detailed information regarding the deceased's assets and immediate family. Also in the file is a copy of the death certificate. Estate file records are useful when the record owner of a property has died. In the estate file will be the names of the next of kin, the attorney handling the estate and the person in charge of dealing with the assets in the estate. This person is called the executor if the person died with a will, or the administrator if the person died without a will. Similar courts exist throughout the country. At the end this chapter is a listing of Surrogate Courts for those New York counties not listed in the previous chapters.
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