It depends on the state. In Pa, you go to the county courthouse, Office of the Register of Wills.
You must bring the will, personal identification and death certificate of the deceased.
Prepare to give an estimate of the size(monetary) of the estate.

LOL Where do you live, Azzalea. I've never heard of those offices. We have Probate Court here in Michigan. You have to file with whichever of those, whichever county or state office handles probate. I'm sure you have to file with the County Surrogate according to articles on the net.

The County Surrogate gives the executor proof of his authority to administer the estate and sees to it that the executor handles the estate properly, is called the Surrogate. Each county has a Surrogate's Court and the Surrogate is the Judge of that Court.

I live in NJ--we have county stores in most of our malls (at least in my county). I didn't realize that county stores were unique. They're sponsored by the Freeholders (most of you don't have them, though, right?) and they're places where you can go to conduct various kinds of county/government business. They do passport photos, have all the tax forms and info, loads of other things. Filing for probate is one of the services they're supposed to offer, but I wondered if anyone had used that service at that kind of facility--and how pleased they were with the results.

Okay...I am probating a will in NJ right now. From your description of the county seat, i'm betting you do have to go into Camden, to the County Surrogate's office. Been there, done that.

here's the link

Here is a link that might be useful: Camden county surrogate

You can have a will written at a county store, but not register the will for probate.

Bingo, Monica. I hate that place--even though I used to teach there.

Really? I was directed to the county store by the funeral director. Okay, not a county official or legal expert, but I figured he dealt enough with death to know some of these things. I'll call this morning to find out (I would REALLY like to avoid having to run into the city!).

I've got that pamphlet, and Mom's estate is pretty simple, but do you have any tips or hints? How long is the process taking for you?

Thanks, though, for your input.

Processing is slow for us (3 months now) because of a sibling, who is an heir. We had to hand it over to lawyers.
Go with an estimate of the estate value and the will. They will determine if the estate is liable for taxes. If not, it may go very, very quickly..like days.

Make sure all bills are paid, including funeral costs, 2008 taxes prepared and any post-funeral costs, like headstone, et.

My sister and I never did probate my mothers will. We just split things like it said to. They don't NEED to be probated, well, not here in Tx.

Salena,

Huh??? Under what circumstances do you not probate a will? Was her will executed by an attorney? Was the estate small? Was the will filed at the courthouse?? There have to be some rules regulating what is probated and what is not and I would be interested in knowing what they are.

I'm not being facetious. I really want to know. I can see where there might be some limitations as to what has to be probated or not. I'm just not clear as to what they are.

Anyone???

State laws, mainly - size of estate and banking laws determine the need to probate a will.
An estate includes only assets (that includes cash money) that is only in the deceased's name or has no beneficiary (if you have no beneficiary, then ownership reverts to the state).
When my DH died of cancer, we were careful to make sure he died without an estate, except for cash money in a checking account that would not exceed funeral costs (funeral costs are assumed to be paid out of deceased's estate).
This was done to avoid the time and expenses of probate. Unfortunately, I found a small CD at a bank of his that had no beneficiary named. because of that CD, I had to go through probate for the bank to release the funds to me.

I never probated my dad's will. I was the sole heir. He deeded the house to me a couple of months before he died. He signed the title to his vehicles. My name was on his bank accounts. His attorney did the estate taxes...nothing owed and told me probate was not necessary.

I noticed a typo above...should read "if you have no beneficiary, then ownership reverts to the estate", not state,

Okay--just got off the phone with the surrogate's office.

The answer is 'yes', you can go to the county store to start the probate process. You have to make an appt., but that doesn't seem to be a problem, I got one for tomorrow. The surrogate's office sends representatives out to the CS's.

So, it's worth asking the question. And it save me a dangerous ride into a very dangerous city.