§ 2702 Proceedings upon remittitur

When a case goes up to a higher court on appeal and then comes back down to the Surrogate's Court, this rule explains how that process works. The higher court sends back its decision through what's called a "remittitur," and the same basic rules that apply in other New York courts (found in the CPLR) apply here too.

There's one key difference, though. Once the case comes back to the Surrogate's Court, any final decree or order that gets entered must follow the specific instructions given by the appellate court. In other words, the Surrogate's Court doesn't get to decide on its own how to word or structure that final paperwork. It has to do exactly what the higher court told it to do.

For people involved in a case, this means that if you win or lose on appeal, the lower court's final paperwork will reflect the appellate court's exact decision. The Surrogate's Court acts on the higher court's direction rather than making new choices at this stage.