SCPA § 507

Testimony of witness 1 · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 507. Testimony of witness

1. The testimony of a witness may be taken at any place the court directs. The party applying therefor shall give such notice of the time and place of taking the examination as the court prescribes and shall pay the court its actual and necessary expenses incurred in taking testimony at a place other than the court.

2. In any uncontested proceeding where an attesting or a material witness who is in another county of the state cannot conveniently attend before the court it may make an order directing that the witness be examined in the surrogate's court of another county and specifying the nature and manner of the examination. A copy of the order must be transmitted to the surrogate so designated, together with the original will or court certified reproduction thereof, where the testimony relates to the execution of a will. The examination may be taken by one of the clerks of the court. After the examination is reduced to writing and subscribed by the witness or otherwise duly authenticated, it, together with a statement of the proceeding upon the execution of the order, must be certified by the surrogate or clerk taking the examination, attested by the seal of his court and returned with the original will or court certified reproduction thereof, if any, to the court which directed the examination, which must file the same in its office.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/SCP/507

In plain English

The court decides where a witness's testimony is taken and can have another county's Surrogate's Court take it.

(1) Testimony may be taken at any place the court directs. The applicant gives the notice the court prescribes and pays the court's actual and necessary expenses for taking testimony away from the court. ★
(2) In an uncontested proceeding, where an attesting or material witness in another county of the state cannot conveniently attend, the court may order the witness examined in the Surrogate's Court of that other county, specifying the nature and manner of the examination. ★ A copy of the order goes to the designated surrogate, with the original will or a court-certified reproduction if the testimony concerns the will's execution. A clerk of the court may take the examination. Once written and subscribed or authenticated, it is certified by the surrogate or clerk, sealed, and returned with the will to the directing court, which files it.

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.