New York’s Estates, Powers and Trusts Law is the statute that decides who inherits your property, what makes your will valid, what your surviving spouse can claim no matter what your will says, and how the people managing your estate or trust have to behave. It works alongside the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act, which handles the courtroom side of probate. If you are planning your estate, expecting an inheritance, or serving as an executor or trustee, these are the rules that govern the outcome.
Who Inherits When There Is No Will
When someone dies without a valid will, EPTL 4-1.1 controls distribution, and the result depends entirely on which relatives survive.1New York State Senate. New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law 4-1.1 – Descent and Distribution of a Decedent’s Estate
If a spouse and children survive, the spouse takes the first $50,000 plus half of the remaining estate, and the children divide the balance by representation, so a deceased child’s share drops down to that child’s own children. A spouse with no surviving children takes everything. Children with no surviving spouse split everything equally. With no spouse and no descendants, the estate goes to surviving parents; then to siblings in equal shares (half-siblings counted the same as full siblings); and if no relatives can be found, it eventually escheats to the state.
Adopted children inherit exactly as biological children do, under Domestic Relations Law § 117.2New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law 117 – Effect of Adoption Stepchildren and foster children do not inherit under intestacy unless they have been formally adopted.
Nonmarital children inherit from their mother without restriction. To inherit from a father, EPTL 4-1.2 requires paternity established through a court order of filiation entered during the father’s lifetime, a formal acknowledgment filed with the putative father registry within 60 days, or clear and convincing evidence such as DNA testing or open acknowledgment of the child.3New York State Senate. New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law 4-1.2 – Inheritance by Non-Marital Children Families who put off proving paternity sometimes find they cannot meet the bar after the father is gone.
What Makes a Will Valid in New York
A will that does not meet EPTL 3-2.1’s execution requirements is void, no matter how clearly it captures the decedent’s wishes. Surrogate’s Courts reject wills over procedural defects with some regularity.
- The will must be a written document. Oral wills are recognized only in extremely narrow circumstances, such as members of the armed forces during conflict.
- The testator must sign at the end of the document.
- At least two attesting witnesses must watch the testator sign or hear the testator acknowledge the signature, and they must sign the will themselves within 30 days of each other.
- The testator must declare to each witness that the document is their will.
If any step is skipped or done improperly, a beneficiary or other interested party can challenge the will during probate. Wills can also be contested on grounds of undue influence, fraud, or the testator’s lack of mental capacity. The challenger carries the burden of proof.
The Surviving Spouse’s Right of Election
New York does not allow a spouse to be fully disinherited. Under EPTL 5-1.1-A, the surviving spouse can claim the greater of $50,000 or one-third of the net estate, regardless of what the will says.4New York State Senate. New York EPTL 5-1.1-A – Right of Election by Surviving Spouse The “net estate” for this calculation includes not just probate assets but also certain non-probate transfers (called testamentary substitutes), such as jointly held property and assets passing by beneficiary designation to third parties.
To claim the elective share, the surviving spouse files a written notice of election with the Surrogate’s Court and serves it on the personal representative. The deadline is six months from the date letters testamentary or letters of administration are issued, and in no event later than two years from the date of death. Missing the window generally forfeits the right, though the court has limited discretion to grant extensions.
Estrangement does not defeat the election. A spouse living apart at the time of death still holds the right unless it was validly waived in a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. One trap to know about: a prenuptial agreement signed before marriage does not waive federal pension or 401(k) rights under ERISA. Only a spouse can waive those, so if retirement accounts are involved, a separate spousal consent has to be signed after the wedding.
What Beneficiaries Can Demand
Beneficiaries under a will or trust have enforceable rights to information and to proper administration. Fiduciaries must account for what they do with estate assets: property received, income collected, expenses paid, debts satisfied, and distributions made. A beneficiary who suspects mismanagement or stonewalling can petition the Surrogate’s Court for a formal judicial accounting, which forces the fiduciary to justify every transaction under oath.5NY Courts. Judicial Settlement of Account Proceeding Checklist
Trust beneficiaries can enforce the terms of the trust agreement and hold trustees to their fiduciary duties. The duty of loyalty and the ban on self-dealing are firmly established in New York law.6New York State Senate. New York EPTL 7-2.1 – Extent of Trustee’s Estate If a trustee breaches, beneficiaries can seek removal through the Surrogate’s Court and pursue damages. Courts take self-dealing seriously; even a transaction that turned out profitable for the trust can be unwound if the trustee had a personal conflict of interest.
How Trusts Work Under the EPTL
The EPTL supplies the framework for creating and running trusts in New York. A valid trust needs an identified settlor, a designated trustee, identifiable beneficiaries, and specific terms.
A revocable trust lets the settlor keep control, change the terms, or dissolve the trust entirely, and its assets bypass probate. New York flips the default rule used in many other states: a trust is presumed irrevocable unless its terms expressly say otherwise. An irrevocable trust generally cannot be altered by the settlor alone once established, though courts have limited authority to modify one. Irrevocable trusts can offer asset protection and estate tax benefits that revocable trusts cannot.
Testamentary trusts are created through a will and funded at death, and they must satisfy the same execution formalities as any New York will. When trust language is ambiguous, courts start with the instrument itself; if the terms remain unclear, external evidence of the settlor’s intent may be considered.
Refusing an Inheritance
A beneficiary who does not want an inheritance can formally refuse it through a renunciation under EPTL 2-1.11.7New York State Senate. New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law 2-1.11 – Renunciation of Property Interests New York uses “renunciation” rather than “disclaimer,” and the two are not identical. A valid renunciation must be in writing, irrevocable, and filed with the appropriate Surrogate’s Court.
The renouncing beneficiary is then treated as if they had predeceased the decedent, so the assets pass to whoever is next in line under the will or the intestacy rules. The renunciation must be unconditional; a beneficiary cannot use it to steer assets to a preferred person. If the beneficiary is a minor or legally incapacitated, court approval is required. Creditors cannot force someone to accept an inheritance, but courts may scrutinize a renunciation that looks designed to dodge debts.
For estate tax purposes, a renunciation that also qualifies as a “qualified disclaimer” under Internal Revenue Code § 2518 must be made within nine months of the decedent’s death. The federal and state rules overlap but are not identical, so if tax planning is the point, both sets of requirements have to be met.
What Executors and Trustees Can Do
Executors, administrators, and trustees are all fiduciaries, but their sources of authority differ. An executor is named in the will. Where there is no will, the Surrogate’s Court appoints an administrator under SCPA § 1001, with priority given to surviving spouse, then children, grandchildren, parents, siblings, and other relatives in that order.8FindLaw. New York Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act 1001 – Order of Priority for Granting Letters of Administration
EPTL 11-1.1 gives fiduciaries broad default powers unless the will, trust, or a court order limits them.9New York State Senate. New York EPTL 11-1.1 – Fiduciaries’ Powers These include collecting rents, managing property, selling or leasing estate assets at public or private sale, investing and reinvesting funds, carrying insurance, making repairs, and settling claims. Most routine administration can move forward without going back to court for permission at each step.
Trustees who manage invested assets must also follow the Prudent Investor Act, EPTL 11-2.3.10Justia. New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law Article 11, Part 2 – Investments by Fiduciaries The standard evaluates investment decisions across the whole portfolio rather than one holding at a time, and it demands reasonable care, diversification, and attention to risk and return. Trustees who ignore it can be personally liable for investment losses.
How Executors Get Paid
New York sets executor and administrator commissions by statute under SCPA § 2307, not by a “reasonable fee” test.11New York State Senate. New York Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act 2307 – Commissions of Fiduciaries Other Than Trustees The rates apply to the total value of assets received and paid out, with half the statutory rate for receiving and half for paying out:
- First $100,000: 5%
- Next $200,000: 4%
- Next $700,000: 3%
- Next $4,000,000: 2.5%
- Above $5,000,000: 2%
On a $1 million estate, total commissions come to roughly $34,000. When multiple fiduciaries serve, commissions are shared. A will can override the statutory schedule by specifying different compensation, and fiduciaries can agree to waive or reduce their commission. Commissions are taxable income to the fiduciary.
Estate Taxes in New York and Federally
New York imposes its own estate tax on top of the federal one, and the state threshold is dramatically lower. For 2026, the New York basic exclusion is $7,350,000. Estates at or below that amount owe no New York estate tax.12Tax.NY.gov. Estate Tax
Watch the cliff. If the taxable estate exceeds 105% of the basic exclusion (roughly $7,717,500 for 2026), the entire exclusion disappears and New York taxes the full estate, not just the excess. Planning around the threshold matters.
The federal exemption for 2026 is $15,000,000, up from $13,990,000 in 2025 under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill signed into law in July 2025.13Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax Married couples can effectively double this through portability, which lets a surviving spouse claim the deceased spouse’s unused federal exemption. To preserve portability, the executor must file federal Form 706 within nine months of the date of death, with a possible six-month extension.14Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 706 Estates that owe no federal tax should still consider filing solely to lock in the portability election. Executors who miss the initial deadline may qualify for relief within five years of the death.
The federal annual gift tax exclusion for 2026 is $19,000 per recipient. Gifts within that limit do not count against the lifetime estate tax exemption, which makes annual gifting one of the simpler ways to shrink a taxable estate over time.
Related Rules Worth Knowing
Two areas often show up alongside EPTL questions but sit slightly outside it. Guardianship of a minor with no available parent runs through Article 17 of the SCPA in Surrogate’s Court or Family Court, with a guardian of the person handling daily care and a guardian of the property managing assets under court supervision. Article 17-A is a separate track for guardianship of intellectually or developmentally disabled adults despite the similar numbering.15NY CourtHelp. Guardianship of a Developmentally Disabled Person
Retirement accounts pass by beneficiary designation, not through the will, so the EPTL does not control them. Under the SECURE Act, most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherit a retirement account from someone who died in 2020 or later must empty it within 10 years. A surviving spouse, a minor child of the decedent, a disabled or chronically ill individual, or someone no more than 10 years younger than the decedent can stretch distributions over their own life expectancy instead.16Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary