Morris County Surrogate

Recently coming from a paralegal point of view. All I needed was help of what steps were next in closing out my mom’s estate. I made an appointment. Next some guy Chris called and canceled it saying we don’t handle that and u need an attorney. Very rude behavior for someone working for the court. I wasn’t asking for legal advice just the steps of what I had to follow to close an insolvent estate out. This code of conduct is unacceptable for someone working for the court.

I came to the office today with my sister in law to get administrative for her late father assets and as soon as we walked in we were greeted by warm welcome by staff. Our representative Gabriel was very professional and polite he went through all whole process very thoroughly and made us at ease. Thank you!

I don’t like paperwork (my guess is most people don’t). I recently had to have a will probated, it involved a lot of paperwork. Yuck! I got extremely lucky - Gabe Krajewski in the Surrogate Office gave me such detailed instructions and advice it made the whole process manageable. My feeling is that wherever Gabe works in the future he will be a valuable asset to them. Also, ( I can’t remember her name) but the woman at the front desk was so nice and helpful too. Thank you all!

I would give the Judge and Deputy Surrogate a 0 if I could. Whatever you do, please don't have the court appoint an administrator! They appointed an "attorney " that had interned for them and passed the bar less than a year before. She had no idea what she was doing. She had no experience with estates or life in general and had no idea how to manage money. She dragged the estate through the mill for 6 years, costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars. She even spent $99,000.00 (and 4 years) on having $11,000 worth of estate items appraised. Also spent $20,000 (on $11,000 worth of personalty that she only got a fraction of) on storing the items that I wound up having to personally pay!!!! Thats $120,000 on $11,000 worth of stuff. I continually tried to get the court to see what was happening and stop the reckless spending, at my expense. We had black and white proof of her misconduct with the estate and the court said she was doing a great job! They had blinders on, did not read our complaints (you can see that by reading the responses) and would not reprimand her in any way! After years, the court finally (after thousands and thousands of dollars spent) told her to disperse the family personalty that I had paid for years ago and liquidate everything else the EXACT way I was suggesting for years! Then charged me $20,000 for storage fees when they held my stuff hostage! I tried relentlessly to get my items out of storage and they refused or ignored me. It is evident that the Judge and Deputy Surrogate were bias and didn't want to look bad by appointing someone so incompetent. I had even reached out at one point with a certified letter to the Surrogate for help and she never responded. In the end, it personally cost me $100,000 (in attorney and storage fees) to just try to get a fair hearing. The Judge REFUSED to hear us and then ruled on an accounting where the administrator refused to reimburse me for expenses when I was an executor, took out reimbursement from my attorney when I was an executor, but paid the other executor whatever she wanted along with a beneficiary! But not me as an executor! She even paid the beneficiaries rent, health insurance and personal expenses! I decided not to apply for reconsideration or an appeal because it would have not changed the outcome as it was quite clear they were in this all together. There was no one to hold the Judge to the standards you would expect a Judge to have. We were very confident with our complaints and motions and were floored by the Judges comments and lack of acknowledgment to the issues. I couldn't afford to go any further. These are just highlights of the nightmare I lived for 6 years, there was MUCH more. Hopefully I will get my story out to everyone so no one has to endure this mental and financial torture like I did.

Hello, Recently I went to Surrogate office in Morristown to get educated for preparing a Will. I had no appointment with their office. Through Receptionist I was greeted by the lady supervisor and asked questions regarding the Will and its content. She spent good amount of time and helped me understand Will. She was very kind and patient. She also gave me booklet. GREAT JOB !! I thank the staff.