Ancillary Probate Blues

Having roots in more than one place is common these days, and people adjust their rites of passage to reflect this reality. For example, you might have several birthday celebrations, one with your family and one with your coworkers, especially if you expect that things would be tense in a joint celebration because the two groups of guests hold sharply opposing political views. Likewise, when a couple who met at work gets married, they might have three wedding receptions in three different cities, one in the city where the couple has settled, one in the bride’s hometown, and the other in the groom’s hometown. Of course, even if you celebrate your birthday every day of the year, only one of those days is the anniversary of the day you were born. No matter how many wedding events, religious and secular, you hold, only one of them indicates the day that a wedding officiant signed your marriage license, thus marking the legal beginning of your marriage. Likewise, no matter how many memorial services a person has after death, and some famous and beloved people have many, each decedent has only one body to bury or cremate. Despite this, in some cases, one person might leave behind property that must go through several different probate cases in different jurisdictions. To find out more about ancillary probate and how to ensure that your family does not have to go through it with your estate, contact a Bronx estate planning lawyer.

Two Probate Cases Are Worse Than One

Jurisdiction is the geographic location or subject matter over which a court’s decisions have authority. The courts of New York can only make decisions about people, property, and events located in New York. This is why people who get injured in an accident while on a once in a lifetime visit to the Big Apple can only file a personal injury lawsuit in New York, and why New York courts will only deal with divorce cases if at least one spouse resides in New York. If you own property in more than one state when you die, each state must conduct its own probate case to pass the property located in that state to your heirs. Of course, only one state is your domicile, meaning your legal home, so it conducts the main probate case. The others are called ancillary probate cases. The ancillary probate cases must settle before the estate can settle in the decedent’s legal domicile.

How to Avoid Ancillary Probate

Probate in multiple states is as stressful as it sounds. The best way to avoid it is to decide early which state is your legal domicile and to keep all your probate assets here. If you own property in more than one state, you should keep the property in the other state out of probate. Transfer your Florida winter home to your heirs while you are alive, or transfer it to a trust. List transfer on death beneficiaries for your out of state bank accounts.

Schedule a Confidential Consultation With a Bronx Estate Planning Attorney

An estate property lawyer can help you structure your estate so that your heirs do not have to go through ancillary probate.  Contact Cavallo & Cavallo in the Bronx, New York to set up a consultation.

Source:

webfiles.nycourts.gov/public/2026-01/ancp-chk-frm.pdf