SCPA § 205

Domiciliaries; jurisdiction and venue 1 · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 205. Domiciliaries; jurisdiction and venue

1. The surrogate's court of any county has jurisdiction over the estate of a decedent who was a domiciliary of the state at the time of his death, disappearance or internment. The proper venue for proceedings relating to such estates is the county of the decedent's domicile at the time of his death, disappearance or internment.

2. A surrogate shall transfer any proceeding to the surrogate's court of the proper county either on his own motion or on the motion of any party.

3. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, the surrogate's court of any county has jurisdiction over, and is a proper venue for, the proceedings of any decedent who was a domiciliary of the state at the time of his or her death and who died as a result of wounds or injury incurred as a result of the terrorist attacks on September eleventh, two thousand one.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/SCP/205

In plain English

For a New York domiciliary’s estate, jurisdiction is statewide but venue ordinarily follows domicile.

(1) Any county’s Surrogate’s Court has jurisdiction, but proper venue is the county of the decedent’s domicile at death, disappearance, or internment. ★
(2) A surrogate must transfer a proceeding to the proper county, on the court’s own motion or a party’s motion.
(3) For a New York domiciliary who died from wounds or injury caused by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, every county has jurisdiction and is a proper venue. ★

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 1 — The Surrogate's Court in Plain English; Volume 2 — The Surrogate's Court Procedure Act; Volume 5 — Your Career: Surrogate's Court in Plain English.