As many estate practitioners know, the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act provides a streamlined procedure for a nominated executor, distributee or person otherwise interested in a decedent’s estate to obtain an ex parte order to open a safe deposit box to search for a will, insurance policy, or cemetery deed. SCPA §2003. This procedure is most commonly used when the decedent’s surviving family members have reason to believe a will or other estate planning documents are in the safe deposit box, and they are seeking to gain access to the box to commence a probate proceeding or otherwise deal with the decedent’s affairs.

The application to the Surrogate’s Court for such an order is fairly simple, and merely requires that the petitioner file a petition setting forth certain information about the decedent, the bank that has possession or control of the safe deposit box, and that such safe deposit box may contain a will, deed to a burial plot, or life insurance policy in the name of a decedent. SCPA §2003(1).