Cape May County - What is the Surrogate's Court?

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

The Surrogate who sits in his court in your county is using authorities which trace back to the Archbishop of London and beyond the Archbishop into the Roman Emperors and the Bible. As long as there have been wills, and orphans, and incapacitated persons, there have been judicial officers to probate the wills, to appoint guardians for minors and incapacitated persons, and to supervise the handling of their affairs.

In New Jersey, the person who passes on the validity of a will, gives the executor proof of his authority to administer the estate and sees to it that the executor handles the estate properly, is called the Surrogate. Each county has a Surrogate's Court and the Surrogate is the Judge of that court. He is elected for a term of five years, pursuant to the Constitution of New Jersey, by the people of the county in which he has jurisdiction. The word "Surrogate" means "one who takes the place of another." The Surrogate in each county is actually taking the place of the governor, who in 1710 received from the Archbishop of London the authority as the Archbishop's "Ordinary" or Surrogate General to probate wills, issue marriage licenses and perform those functions which at that time were in the province of the Church. That power, eventually distributed by the governor, then the governor of the Crown Colony of New Jersey, and subsequently the governor of the State of New Jersey to his Surrogates, was recognized by subsequent New Jersey Legislatures in statutes which codified the powers and duties of the Surrogates, and by the Constitutions which fixed their terms.
Today, the County Surrogate administers a court which is almost certain to touch the lives of every person in the county at some time. 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, for example, it is increasingly common, after a death, to visit the Surrogate's Court for the appointment of someone to handle the estate of the deceased.