The New York State Surrogate's Court is the court which handles all probate and estate proceedings in the State of New York. All wills are probated in this court and all estates of people who die without a will are handled in this court. Unclaimed property of the deceased without wills is handled by the Judge of this court. Probate is the legal process of settling the estate of a deceased person; specifically, distributing the decedents property. ...
Each of New York's 62 counties has one Surrogate Judge, with New York County having 2, and Kings County moving from one to two following the 2005 election. Surrogate Judges are elected countywide for 10 year terms. In some rural counties, Surrograte Judge duties are handled by the County Court Judge. For other uses, see Manhattan (disambiguation). ... Kings County is the name of several counties aorund the world: Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada Kings County, California, United States of America Kings County, Ireland is the former name of County Offaly. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...