Custodian · Surrogate · all 21 counties
Surrogate The New Jersey County Surrogate: the county office that probates a will, appoints an administrator and opens a guardianship, in all 21 counties
New Jersey gives each county an elected Surrogate. An uncontested estate begins and ends there; a contest goes to the Superior Court. Pick your county for the official office and the Rule that sends you to it.
Your county
- AtlanticOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- BergenOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- BurlingtonOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- CamdenOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- Cape MayOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- CumberlandOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- EssexOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- GloucesterOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- HudsonOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- HunterdonOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- MercerOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- MiddlesexOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- MonmouthOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- MorrisOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- OceanOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- PassaicOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- SalemOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- SomersetOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- SussexOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- UnionOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
- WarrenOfficial county Surrogate page checked.
Which county’s Surrogate
Not the county you live in, and not the county where the will was signed. The Rules of Court fix it:
The application for the probate of a will or for letters of administration shall be filed with the Surrogate's Court of the county in which the decedent was domiciled at death, or if at that time the decedent was not domiciled in this State, then with the Surrogate's Court of any county in which the decedent left any property or into which any property belonging to the decedent's estate may have come.
R. 4:80-1(c) · as code
Quoted from the New Jersey Rules of Court as the Judiciary publishes them, read 2026-09-02. Legal information, not legal advice.
Forms and the steps
Wills, estates and guardianship forms are free walkthroughs at in.formapauperis.com. For the order the steps come in, with the rule behind each one: a probate matter or a guardianship.
Custodian is legal information, not legal advice. A Surrogate’s address, hours and fees change; the county’s own page is the source of truth for them. This site does not open an estate, appoint anyone, or file anything for you.
Cross-reference. Going to court and cannot pay the filing fee? See the notice of motion to proceed in forma pauperis (the New Jersey court fee waiver) or open the fee waiver form directly. Every other New Jersey court form is free at in.formapauperis.com.