Below is a basic explanation of New York inheritance law.
If a decedent dies in New York with a Will, the Will needs to be probated in New York State Surrogate's Court before any property of the decedent can be distributed according to its provisions. Any person interested in the decedent's estate may start probate proceedings in court.
The purpose of probate proceedings - to confirm legal validity of the Will and to appoint an executor, a person who will distribute the property of the decedent according to the instructions in the Will.
The property of a decedent person is called "decedent's estate", however, not all items of the estate will need to go through probate process, some items like bank accounts, life insurance policies or the like, may already have a specific beneficiary designation (so called "Payable-On-Death", or "Transfer-On-Death" designations). These items will pass on to specified beneficiaries bypassing the probate process.
Important to note: for married individuals, unless a valid prenuptial agreement provides otherwise, most of the property acquired during marriage is considered "marital property" and will pass on to the surviving spouse automatically (by operation of law), regardless of the provisions of the Will (see also "Elective Share" below).
For small estates (valued up to $50,000) a simplified probate procedure may be used.
On the other hand, if a person dies intestate (without a Will), or an existing Will covers only part of the decedent's property or is declared legally invalid by the court, in all such cases distribution of the property not disposed of by the Will will follow the rules of intestacy contained in New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) Article 4. Similarly as above, a probate proceeding will need to be commenced by an interested person to appoint an administrator, a person who will distribute the decedent's property according to the intestacy rules.
Rules of Intestacy in New York
The most important NY intestacy rules are below, while New York EPTL Article 4 contains the full set of intestacy rules.
- if a decedent is survived by a spouse and there are no children, the spouse inherits everything;
- if a decedent is survived by children but not the spouse, the children inherit in equal portions;
- if a decedent is survived by a spouse AND children, the spouse inherits $50,000 plus one-half of the remaining property, and the children inherit the rest;
- if a decedent is survived by a parent or parents and there are no spouse or children, parent(s) inherit everything;
- if a decedent is survived by a sibling or siblings and there are no spouse, children or parents, sibling(s) inherit everything.
Elective share
Notwithstanding the provisions of a Will, the law gives a surviving spouse a choice: to inherit under the Will, or to receive one-third of the decedent's estate or $50,000 (so-called "elective share", NY EPTL Art. 5-1.1-A ). The purpose of the elective share rule - to prevent the testator from disinheriting the surviving spouse. According to the law, any spouse may waive his or her entitlement to elective share through a valid pre- or post-nuptial agreement [NY EPTL Art. 5-1.1-A(e)].