Description:
Each county has a Surrogate and they act as the judge of the Surrogate’s Court. They are elected to 5-year terms, as mandated by the New Jersey state constitution, by the people of the county in which they have jurisdiction. Aside from the appointment of a guardian for a minor who comes into an estate (often a settlement arising from an accident), or the supervision of an adoption, or a sanity hearing, it is increasingly common, after death, to visit the Surrogate’s Court for the appointment of someone to handle the estate of the deceased. It is because of the duties and responsibilities of the Surrogate, that the court they administer is almost certain to touch the lives of every person in the county at some time.