Buffalo Living Trust: Erie County Surrogate's Court and Deed Recording

By Rozsa Gyene, California estate planning attorney, State Bar of California #208356. Published October 1, 2026. Last reviewed October 1, 2026.

Which county this page covers

This page covers Erie County. The 8th Judicial District page on nycourts.gov says the district is responsible for the trial courts in Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming counties, and the Erie County Surrogate's Court and the Erie County Clerk both give Buffalo addresses. Under SCPA 205, the proper venue for proceedings relating to the estate of someone who was domiciled in New York is the county of the decedent's domicile at death. If your address is in a neighboring county, that county's Surrogate's Court and County Clerk apply rather than the offices below.

The Erie County Surrogate's Court

The court's page describes its work this way: the Surrogate's Court hears cases relating to individuals who have passed away, including disagreements about wills and the proper way to manage or divide the estate (total assets and liabilities), and is also authorized to handle adoptions. The page links a Help Center, a Representing Yourself page, a new policy for wills filed for safekeeping, and a May 28, 2020 notice regarding mandatory e-filing through the state courts' electronic filing system. It does not list court fees; those are set by statute, below.

Probate, as the court system describes it

The court system's CourtHelp page on probate says that when the person who died had a will, the will must be filed in Surrogate's Court and admitted for probate, which is the process of proving that the will is valid. The executor files the original will, a certified death certificate, a probate petition and supporting documents in the Surrogate's Court in the county where the person who died lived and had their primary residence. The distributees, the family members entitled to a share, must be listed in the petition and served with a citation, and beneficiaries under the will must be notified. The filing fee is based on the dollar value of the estate; SCPA 2402 sets it at $45.00 for an estate of less than $10,000, $75.00 from $10,000, $215.00 from $20,000, $280.00 from $50,000, $420.00 from $100,000, $625.00 from $250,000 and $1,250.00 at $500,000 and over, computed initially on the gross estate passing by will. Objections to probate cost a further $150.00. If there is no will, an administration proceeding is filed instead, at the same schedule.

Voluntary administration for small estates

SCPA 1301 defines a small estate as the estate of a person who dies leaving personal property having a gross value of $50,000 or less, exclusive of property required to be set off under EPTL 5-3.1(a). The CourtHelp small estate page adds the rule that matters most to a homeowner: if the decedent owned real property, like a house or land, in their name alone, it is not a small estate anymore; if the real property was owned jointly with another person and the personal property is under $50,000, it is. The court appoints a voluntary administrator, the filing fee is $1.00, and the court system offers a do-it-yourself form program. Read the voluntary administration guide and the New York probate process guide for the steps.

Recording a deed to your trustee with the Erie County Clerk

To put a Buffalo home into a living trust you sign a deed from yourself to yourself as trustee and record it with the Erie County Clerk, whose Land Records page describes the clerk as the official registrar of deeds, mortgages, assignments of mortgages, satisfactions of mortgages, judgments and liens, required by New York law to receive, record, index and preserve them.

Recording fees on the clerk's schedule

The schedule's own example: the cost of recording a 1-page deed will be $50 plus the cost of filing a TP-584 and RP-5217. The transfer tax line is quoted as the schedule states it; the schedule does not say how a deed to your own trustee for no consideration is treated, so ask the Land Records office before you file. Plain copies are $1.30 for the first two pages and $0.65 for each additional page; certified copies are $5.00 for the first four pages and $1.25 per page after that, to a $40.00 maximum.

E-recording and payment

The clerk's e-Recording page says anyone who wants to record electronically may contract with one of its registered facilitators, Corporation Service Company, eRecording Partners Network, Simplifile or Indecomm Global Services, which transmit the document along with payment of all applicable taxes and fees. The clerk's pages do not state the forms of payment accepted at the recording counter. For copy requests by mail, the General Rules page says all fees must be included in a check or money order payable to the Erie County Clerk, sent to 92 Franklin St., Buffalo, NY 14202 with a postage-paid, self-addressed envelope.

What a living trust changes

Probate, in the court system's words, is the Surrogate's Court proving the will and then overseeing the executor as the estate is given out. A home deeded to the trustee of a living trust while you are alive is held by the trustee under the trust's terms, so it is no longer real property in your name alone, the fact that the small estate page says takes a house out of the small estate procedure. EPTL 7-1.17 requires every lifetime trust to be in writing and executed and acknowledged in the manner required for recording a conveyance of real property, or signed in the presence of two witnesses who sign the trust instrument. The deed to the trustee is recorded once, at the fees above. See the transfer on death deed guide for the other recorded option New York offers.