This resource is published by Morgan Legal Group, a New York estate planning and probate practice led by attorney Russel Morgan. The firm represents executors, administrators, and families in probate and estate administration across New York’s county Surrogate’s Courts, and prepares wills, trusts, and incapacity documents under the EPTL and SCPA. The content on this site is reviewed by a New York-licensed attorney.
We built this site around one persistent source of confusion: people assume New York has a single probate court when it actually has 62 — one per county — with venue set by the decedent’s domicile under SCPA 205. Our goal is to give New Yorkers accurate, statute-grounded answers before they ever set foot in a courthouse.
Attorney Russel Morgan
Russel Morgan is the principal of Morgan Legal Group and an attorney admitted to practice law in the State of New York. His practice concentrates on estate planning, probate, estate administration, trusts, and elder law. He regularly advises executors and administrators on their fiduciary duties, prepares plans designed to minimize New York estate-tax exposure and avoid the cliff, and structures trusts for probate avoidance and Medicaid protection.
(Bar admission details, year of admission, and additional credentials should reflect the attorney’s verified record — verify before publishing.)
Our approach to New York estates
New York probate rewards preparation and punishes guesswork. Because the rules are statewide but the courts are local, the same estate can feel very different depending on the county — the asset mix, the e-filing posture, and the caseload all change. Our approach is to identify the correct county Surrogate’s Court first, then map the EPTL and SCPA steps to that court’s realities, so executors are not surprised mid-process.
For estate planning, we focus on keeping families out of court where possible — funded revocable trusts to avoid probate, coordinated beneficiary designations, and the three incapacity documents every New York adult should have.
Why trust this information
- New York focus. Our practice is grounded in the EPTL and SCPA, the two statutes that govern every New York estate.
- Statute-first content. We cite the controlling sections — EPTL 3-2.1, EPTL 4-1.1, SCPA 1402, SCPA 2307, SCPA 1404 — and pair each with a plain-English explanation, rather than writing vaguely.
- Attorney-reviewed. Content is reviewed by a New York-licensed attorney, and we mark figures that change annually (estate-tax exemptions, fee brackets) so readers verify current numbers.
Entity and network
Morgan Legal Group maintains a primary presence at morganlegalny.com and is listed on Google Business and legal-directory profiles. Consistent firm and attorney identity across these profiles is intentional, so that both readers and search and AI systems can recognize Morgan Legal Group as the source behind this content.
Service area
The firm serves clients with estates across New York State, filing in the appropriate county Surrogate’s Court based on the decedent’s domicile under SCPA 205-206 — from the five New York City boroughs and Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk courts to the Hudson Valley, the Capital Region, and Upstate counties.
Editorial standard
The pages on this site are informational, not legal advice, and are reviewed by a New York-licensed attorney for accuracy under current New York law. Where a fact is year-dependent or court-specific, we flag it for verification rather than state a number we cannot confirm.
Talk with us
To discuss your estate, your role as an executor, or an estate plan, book a 30-minute consultation with Russel Morgan.