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How Much Does a Letter of Testamentary Cost in New York?
A letter of testamentary itself does not cost anything, because it comes from the court. What costs money is getting there: if you are like most people, you will need to hire an estate lawyer to represent you in the probate process, and the lawyer’s fee is the real cost of the letter.
A word on the name. The document is actually called Letters Testamentary, and it is not a letter at all; it is a court order. The confusion stems from the fact that an order used to be called a letter hundreds of years ago.
What it costs
For a simple estate, it costs about $3,000 to get a letter of testamentary. For an estate with routine complications, it costs about $8,000 to get a letter of testamentary in New York. For an estate with major complications, it costs tens of thousands of dollars, and an estate attorney will not offer a flat fee when complications of that kind are involved.
| Kind of estate | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| Simple estate | About $3,000 |
| Routine complications | About $8,000 |
| Major complications | Tens of thousands of dollars; no flat fee |
Routine complications
These come up often enough that we can usually predict what they will add. Each one adds attorney time, procedure or both.
| Complication | Why it raises the cost |
|---|---|
| Many parties to notify | Every additional party has to be notified. This is especially true when the parties are in the State of New York, because in-state parties have to be notified by personal delivery through a process server. The problem can sometimes be avoided if the beneficiaries sign a waiver. |
| Difficulties obtaining a bond | A bond is insurance against bad acts of the executor. If you do not pass the credit check and are therefore unable to get the bond, the court will not issue letters to you, and someone else who can qualify, usually the alternate named in the will or another eligible person, has to be appointed instead, which adds a step to the proceeding and to what the letters will cost. |
| An attorney acting as administrator | If the attorney needs to act as the administrator, they will charge extra for that service, increasing the cost of the letter of testamentary. |
| Difficulties with the death certificate | It can be difficult to obtain a death certificate, or an error on the death certificate may have to be fixed before the court will accept it. |
Major complications
The extra time and resources that estates with major complications demand are what push the cost of the letter of testamentary into the tens of thousands. Three situations account for most of them.
A will contest
A will contest places the probate proceeding on a litigation track and can take a great deal of an estate attorney’s time and resources. It involves examination under oath of the attorney who drafted the will, the witnesses to the will, the person presenting the will for probate and anyone else with knowledge of the facts. It may involve obtaining and reviewing the decedent’s medical records in order to assess his capacity to make a will. A will contest can quickly turn into a long and involved lawsuit that costs tens of thousands of dollars, and that is true whether you are the one offering the will or the one objecting to it.
A search for parties with an unknown address
It can take six months to complete all of the research and publication required to notify parties whose address is unknown. That extra attorney time increases the cost of the letter of testamentary.
A search for unknown parties
This can take a year or more to resolve. The courts are very particular about notifying every party who is in any possible way affected by the will, even people who are not mentioned in it. The court will often require the executor to show that an effort was made to search for parties even if they are unlikely to be found, such as the decedent’s far-removed relatives overseas who may never have existed.
What the retainer agreement says
When you enter into a retainer agreement with the estate attorney representing you in obtaining letters testamentary, the cost is part of the agreement, and the agreement will specify that the cost increases in the event of complications. The figures above are a starting point, and the agreement tells you in advance which events change them.
This article is meant to give you a bird’s-eye view of the factors involved. If you would like to know how much a letter of testamentary would cost in your particular case, give us a call and we will be happy to give you an estimate. You can reach us at 212-233-1233 or [email protected].
About the Author
Albert Goodwin Esq. is a licensed New York attorney with over 18 years of courtroom experience. His extensive knowledge and experience make him well-qualified to write authoritative articles on a wide range of legal topics. He can be reached at 212-233-1233 or [email protected].
