Rochester Living Trust: Monroe 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 Monroe County. SCPA 205 makes the county of the decedent's domicile at death the proper venue for estate proceedings, and the Monroe County Clerk's Land Records page requires every deed to specify which municipality the property is situated in. If your address is in a county other than Monroe, use that county's Surrogate's Court and County Clerk, not the offices described here.

The Monroe County Surrogate's Court

According to its page, the court hears cases relating to individuals who have passed away, including disagreements about wills and the proper way to manage or divide the estate, handles adoptions, and oversees guardianships of a minor's property under SCPA Article 17 and of individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities under SCPA Article 17-A. The page states no filing fees of its own.

How probate works, in the court system's words

The CourtHelp page on probate explains that a will must be filed in Surrogate's Court and admitted for probate, the process of proving that the will is valid, after which the judge, called the Surrogate, appoints the executor named in the will to give out the estate. The executor files the original will, a certified death certificate and a probate petition in the Surrogate's Court of the county where the person who died had their primary residence, lists the distributees, and serves them with a citation; they may sign a waiver and consent or come to court to object. The page says the papers may be filed over the Internet through the court system's electronic filing system in participating counties, and that the filing fee is based on the dollar value of the estate. SCPA 2402 sets that schedule: $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, with an additional fee due if the estate later proves larger and a refund if smaller.

Small estates: voluntary administration

A small estate under SCPA 1301 is the estate of someone who dies leaving personal property having a gross value of $50,000 or less, exclusive of the property set off for the family under EPTL 5-3.1(a). The CourtHelp small estate page says it does not matter whether there was a will, that personal property means things that belong to a person not including real property, and that a house or land held in the decedent's name alone takes the estate out of the small estate category, in which case a probate proceeding (with a will) or an administration proceeding (without one) is filed. The court appoints a voluntary administrator and issues a certificate for each listed asset; the filing fee is $1.00. The voluntary administration guide and the probate process guide cover the forms.

Recording a deed to your trustee with the Monroe County Clerk

The Land Records page says the County Clerk is the official registrar of deeds, mortgages, assignments and satisfactions of mortgages, judgments and liens, with the duty of indexing and preserving them. The deed that transfers a Rochester home from you to yourself as trustee is recorded here.

What the clerk requires on a deed

Deeds must be dated originals and include the name and address of both the grantor and grantee, a return address or attorney's box number, the full legal property description specifying which municipality the property is situated in, the new tax number, the property and tax mailing address, the grantor's signature, an acknowledgment matching the signature and name on the document, and complete notary information. A deed filing must also include a completed TP-584 and RP-5217 (equalization form). The RP-5217 must be completed on a computer so its bar code is generated; it cannot be handwritten or typed.

Fees listed on the Land Records page

The transfer tax line is quoted as the page states it; the page does not say how a deed to your own trustee without consideration is taxed. Plain copies are 65 cents per page with a $1.30 minimum, and a certified copy is $5 for a document up to four pages plus $1.25 per additional page.

E-recording

The clerk's eRecording page says eRecording is voluntary in Monroe County and not mandated by New York State. Documents can be transmitted through a submitter company registered with the county: Corporation Service Company, eRecording Partners Network, Indecomm Global Services or Simplifile. Paper filings are made at the Room 101 counter above.

The clerk's transfer on death deed forms

The same Land Records page notes that section 424 of the Real Property Law, the transfer on death deed, took effect on July 19, 2024, and that the Monroe County Clerk has added fields to its own forms for a revocable transfer on death deed, one with multiple beneficiaries, a revocation, a renunciation and a notice, and asks that filers in Monroe County use those forms. The clerk's page says this policy may not apply in other counties. The New York transfer on death deed guide compares that deed with a trust.

What a living trust changes

The Surrogate's Court passes on property that was still in the decedent's name. When a Rochester home has been deeded to the trustee of a living trust, the trustee already holds title under the trust's terms, so the home is not real property in the decedent's name alone and the successor trustee carries out the trust without a probate petition for it. EPTL 7-1.17 says a lifetime trust must be in writing and either acknowledged in the manner required for recording a conveyance of real property or signed in the presence of two witnesses who sign the instrument. The deed is recorded once, at the fees above.