Early Life, Tragedy, and Triumph

In June of 1970, with high school graduation only days away, Mike and classmates from Cresskill High School, after their senior prom, celebrated with a trip to Seaside Park at the Jersey Shore. The summer temperature was soaring; the ocean inviting. Mike decided to take a swim. He dove into the surf into what he thought was ten (10) feet of water. He was wrong. The murky ocean camouflaged a sand bar lying a mere two (2) feet below the surface. Mike hit the sandbar solidly, shattering cervical vertebrae.

He was pulled out of the ocean unable to move. Mike was rushed to the hospital. Last rites were administered and his parents were told he would not survive the night. Exhibiting characteristics that would punctuate his life, Mike refused to die.

He underwent grueling physical therapy at Bergen Pines Hospital (now Bergen Regional Medical Center) for nearly two (2) years. In 1972 he was sent home, with doctors assuring him and his family that he would be permanently paralyzed, never able to leave his bed. Mike refused to let mere medical science narrow his world or define his future. With family, friends and neighbors from Cresskill rallying to his side, ramps were built and doorways were widened to accommodate a wheelchair.

Mike escaped the darkness. He purchased a customized van and relearned to drive. He went back to school, receiving an Associate’s Degree from Bergen Community College in 1974. He continued his education at Fairleigh Dickinson University, graduating in 1976. In 1979 Mike received his law degree from Seton Hall University Law School.

Public Service and Election as Surrogate

At home in Cresskill, the town doctors told Mike he could never leave. He was elected Councilman in 1974. In 1983 at age 31 Mike was elected mayor of Cresskill. The same year the Board of Freeholders of Bergen County appointed Mike counsel to the County of Bergen. He was the youngest person ever appointed to that position. Following years in private practice, Mike, in 1991, was appointed counsel to the N.J. Sports and Exposition Authority.

In 1996 Mike Dressler decided to again enter the arena of public service. He entered the countywide contest for Bergen County Surrogate. His campaign, propelled by knowledge, experience, spirit and a motorized wheelchair, took him to the municipalities comprising Bergen County. On November 5, 1996, the people of Bergen County responded. Mike received over 154,000 votes, gaining victory. On January 1, 1997, Michael Dressler began a 5-year term as Surrogate of Bergen County.

His first term as Surrogate vividly highlights a public service philosophy that combines innovative community service with reasoned fiscal responsibility. Mike has established and expanded programs that directly assist those involved with Surrogate Court issues.

Guardianship Monitoring, Technology, and Historic Records

Guardianship Monitoring Program

During his first term, Surrogate Dressler created the first Guardianship Monitoring Program in Bergen County, utilizing volunteers recruited with the help of the AARP who would monitor the work of the court-appointed guardians, making sure they care for the frail and elderly as they promised they would. This program is now statewide.

In 2012, former U.S. Congressman Steven R. Rothman honored Surrogate Michael R. Dressler in the Congressional Record (Vol. 158, No. 17) , specifically addressing the importance of this work.

Technological Innovation

Michael R. Dressler spearheaded the migration of the Bergen County Surrogate’s Court’s form server that produces all documents—from letters testamentary to judgments on probate—from a simple UNIX system to a Microsoft environment in 1999 and then again to a virtual, County server in 2019.

He authorized the adoption of a program called the Surrogate’s Office Management System (SOMS) in 1999 and the overhaul of that program in 2019 by Foveonics Imaging Technologies. Michael R. Dressler has authorized the provider to image-enable the SOMS software by providing an interface for scanning new cases and a viewer interface to display imaged cases.

The Surrogate’s Court also maintains an intermingled account on behalf of minor children who have received money damages through Superior Court or through an inheritance. At present, that intermingled account is comprised of multi-million dollars held on behalf of those minor children to be released to them when they reach the age of eighteen. Surrogate Dressler has worked hard to ensure the highest rate of return of any of the twenty-one counties in New Jersey for many years.

Satellite Program and Countywide Outreach

Bringing Government to the People

Surrogate Dressler served as an advocate of education, promoting awareness of the probate process through his tour and through the publication of a comprehensive booklet entitled “How to Probate a Last Will & Testament in Bergen County”, now available to all Bergen County residents in English, Spanish and Korean. He showed that the duties and responsibilities of the Surrogate Court Judge extend beyond the walls of his own office in Hackensack.

As a means of bringing government to the people, in 1999 the Surrogate initiated Bergen County’s first Surrogate’s Court Satellite Program, operated without additional taxpayer cost. The goal of the program was to make the services of the Surrogate’s Court as accessible as possible to the people of Bergen County by meeting them in pre-identified public areas where the probate process could be easily conducted to make our operations more accessible throughout Bergen County.

In order to meet one of our clerks at a Satellite Office, a resident must first contact the court to notify the court of their interest in this program. Only then will that person be able to schedule an appointment to meet a clerk at one of eleven strategically placed satellite locations: