Contested matters in the Surrogate's Courts of New York are part of the trend of increasing litigation in our society. They are no less burdened by the trend than the rest of our courts. The weight is all the more heavier following the closure of the courthouses and the limits placed on the reopened courthouses with the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a solution. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), particularly mediation, is known-well to be an effective, efficient, less expensive, more flexible, and less volatile means of resolving contested estate matters. Nevertheless, historically, ADR in the contested estate arena has been woefully under-utilized.