Every New York estate moves through the same broad sequence of tasks, whether modest or large: someone must be appointed to act, assets must be located and protected, debts and taxes must be paid, and what remains must reach the right people in the right amounts. What varies from family to family is how complicated each step becomes — and whether a will exists to guide the process or the intestacy statute has to do it instead.
This guide is built as an operational checklist rather than a legal explainer. It follows the actual order of tasks an executor or administrator works through, from the first filing in Surrogate's Court to the final accounting that closes the estate. Where New York law fixes a specific rule — who may serve, how long creditors have to make claims, how a fiduciary is paid — we cite the governing statute so you can verify it and use it as a reference while you work.
If you have not yet determined which court process applies to your situation, our companion guide to New York probate explains the process itself in depth, and our guide on dying without a will in New York covers intestate succession. This checklist assumes you already know your role in an estate and want to know, concretely, what happens next.
- 1File the petition
- 2Citations & waivers
- 3Letters issued
- 4Marshal assets & pay debts
- 5Taxes & accounting
- 6Distribution & closing
Key takeaways
- Every estate follows the same operational arc — appointment, marshaling, debts, taxes, distribution, closing — whether it proceeds through probate with a will or administration without one.
- A fiduciary needs certified death certificates, the original will (if any), and a working asset inventory before the first Surrogate's Court filing can even be prepared.
- A fiduciary who waits seven months from the issuance of letters before distributing is protected from personal liability on claims presented later (SCPA 1802) — the claim itself is not extinguished — so prudent fiduciaries wait out that window before making final distributions.
- SCPA 1811 fixes the order in which debts and expenses must be paid when an estate cannot cover everything — funeral and administration costs come first, ahead of most other creditors.
- A New York estate tax return is due nine months after death for estates above the state exclusion amount, and a separate federal return may be required for larger estates.
- The estate is not finished until the fiduciary collects receipts and releases — or obtains a judicial accounting — and closes the estate's bank account; skipping this step leaves the fiduciary personally exposed.
Two starting points: probate with a will, administration without one
The checklist forks at the very beginning, depending on whether the decedent left a valid will.
If there is a will, the person named as executor files a probate petition (SCPA 1402) in the Surrogate's Court of the county where the decedent was domiciled, along with the original will and a certified death certificate. The decedent's distributees — the people who would inherit if there were no will — are entitled to notice and either sign waivers or are served with a citation (SCPA 1403). Once the court is satisfied, it admits the will and issues letters testamentary, the document that gives the executor legal authority to act.
If there is no will, a family member petitions for letters of administration under SCPA Article 10 instead. SCPA 1001 fixes the priority for who may serve — the surviving spouse first, then children, then more distant relatives — and SCPA 707 bars infants, incompetents, and (absent a New York co-fiduciary) non-domiciliary non-citizens from serving at all, and gives the court discretion to reject convicted felons and others found unfit. Because the decedent chose no one, disagreements among equally entitled relatives sometimes require a hearing before the Surrogate decides. Assets ultimately pass to the relatives identified in EPTL 4-1.1; our guide to administering an estate without a will covers this path in detail.
In either case, if full appointment will be delayed, the nominated fiduciary can ask for preliminary letters testamentary (SCPA 1412) or a comparable limited appointment, allowing urgent protective steps while the case proceeds. Once letters issue, the two paths converge into the same operational checklist.
Gathering documents: what the fiduciary needs before filing
Before any petition can be prepared, the fiduciary needs a working file. Missing pieces are the single biggest cause of early delay:
- Multiple certified copies of the death certificate (banks, insurers, and government agencies each want their own original-certified copy).
- The original will and any codicils — a copy is not sufficient for probate absent a lost-will proceeding.
- A list of assets titled in the decedent's sole name: real property, bank and brokerage statements, retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and business interests.
- The most recent tax returns (personal and business) and a list of outstanding debts and recurring bills.
- Marriage certificates, divorce decrees or separation agreements, and birth certificates for children — needed to establish the family tree even when there is a will.
- Deeds, vehicle titles, and safe deposit box information.
- Passwords, account lists, or a digital asset inventory, if the decedent kept one.
- Any prepaid funeral contract, veteran discharge papers (DD-214), and union or pension plan documents.
If a safe deposit box may hold the will or other essential papers and the bank will not grant informal access, SCPA 2003 lets an interested party petition the court for an order permitting a limited inspection — specifically to look for a will, a burial plot deed, or a life insurance policy — before the fiduciary is formally appointed.
Court filings: opening the estate
With the document file assembled, the fiduciary — or counsel on the fiduciary's behalf — prepares the petition. Filing fees in Surrogate's Court are set by SCPA 2402 on a sliding scale keyed to the estate's size, from a nominal charge for the smallest estates up to a statutory maximum of $1,250 for estates of $500,000 or more, and certified copies of letters carry a small per-copy charge.
Once letters issue, three administrative tasks should happen almost immediately:
- Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the estate from the IRS — the estate is now its own taxpayer, separate from the decedent.
- Open an estate bank account titled in the fiduciary's name "as executor" or "as administrator," and stop using the decedent's personal accounts entirely.
- Order certified copies of the letters — most banks, transfer agents, and title companies will not speak to the fiduciary without one, and a single copy will not survive being sent to five different institutions at once.
Small estates deserve a special note: if the decedent left $50,000 or less in personal property (not counting certain items set aside for a spouse or children under 21 under EPTL 5-3.1), a simplified small-estate proceeding under SCPA Article 13 — voluntary administration — may replace the full petition process with a short affidavit and a one-dollar filing fee. Real property cannot be handled this way, so a house or condo in the decedent's sole name still requires full probate or administration.
Marshaling the estate's assets, asset by asset
"Marshaling" is the formal term for locating, securing, and taking control of everything the estate owns. Different asset types require different handling, and mistakes here are common because the rules are not intuitive:
| Asset type | Marshaling steps | Traps to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Real property | Secure the property, maintain insurance, continue paying the mortgage and taxes, obtain an appraisal for the date of death | A vacant home can violate a standard homeowner's policy's occupancy clause — notify the insurer immediately |
| Bank and brokerage accounts | Provide certified letters to retitle or close accounts into the estate account; obtain date-of-death statements for every account | Joint accounts and payable-on-death accounts usually pass outside the estate entirely — do not assume they belong to the estate |
| Retirement accounts (IRA, 401(k)) | Contact the plan administrator; identify the named beneficiary | These pass by beneficiary designation, not by the will — an outdated form can override the decedent's actual wishes |
| Life insurance | File a claim directly with the insurer as the named beneficiary | Proceeds paid to a named beneficiary are not probate assets and should not be deposited into the estate account |
| Business interests | Locate governing documents (operating agreement, shareholder agreement); notify co-owners; arrange interim management or valuation | Buy-sell agreements often dictate what happens next — read them before making promises to anyone |
| Vehicles and personal property | Secure and insure vehicles; inventory household contents and valuables; obtain appraisals for significant items | Do not let anyone drive an estate vehicle until insurance coverage is confirmed |
| Digital assets | Identify accounts, domains, and cryptocurrency; request access from custodians under EPTL Article 13-A | Content of communications receives extra legal protection and may require a court order if no online tool or will provision addresses it |
| Safe deposit box contents | Inventory contents with a bank officer present, typically once letters issue (or earlier under SCPA 2003 for a limited purpose) | Removing contents before an authorized inventory can create disputes with co-lessees or beneficiaries |
Every asset marshaled should be recorded on a running inventory with a date-of-death value, for use in the accounting and any estate tax return.
Paying debts and claims in the order the law requires
Once assets are secured, the fiduciary turns to what the estate owes. New York does not let a fiduciary simply pay whoever asks first. There is no longer a procedure for publishing notice to shorten the claim period (the former SCPA 1801 was repealed in 1994); claims must be presented in writing under SCPA 1803, and under SCPA 1802 a fiduciary who waits seven months from the issuance of letters before making distributions generally cannot be held personally liable for a claim presented after that window closes. Treat the seven-month mark as a minimum waiting period: distributing early exposes the fiduciary personally if a legitimate claim later surfaces.
When an estate cannot pay every debt in full, SCPA 1811 fixes a strict order of priority:
- Reasonable funeral expenses and the expenses of administering the estate;
- Debts entitled to a preference under federal or New York law;
- Taxes assessed against the decedent's property before death;
- Judgments and decrees docketed against the decedent, in the order they were entered;
- All other debts — notes, bonds, credit card balances, and unliquidated claims — which share pro rata if funds run short.
A written claim should state the amount owed and the basis for it (SCPA 1803). The fiduciary may accept, negotiate, or reject a claim; a rejected claimant can bring the dispute before the Surrogate. Secured debts like mortgages are typically handled under their own contract terms rather than this statutory ladder. Because a fiduciary can be personally liable for paying a lower-priority debt (or an unentitled beneficiary) ahead of a higher-priority one, this is not a step to rush.
Tax checkpoints along the way
Taxes intersect with estate administration at several distinct points, and missing one can create liability long after the estate is closed:
- The decedent's final income tax return. A final federal Form 1040 and New York personal income tax return cover the period from January 1 through the date of death.
- Fiduciary income tax returns. If the estate itself earns income during administration — interest, dividends, rental income — the fiduciary may need to file a federal Form 1041 and a New York Form IT-205 under the estate's own EIN, potentially for more than one tax year if administration runs long.
- New York estate tax. A New York estate tax return (Form ET-706) is generally due nine months after death for estates whose value exceeds the state's basic exclusion amount, currently $7,350,000 for 2026 deaths. An extension of time to file can be requested, but interest generally continues to accrue on any unpaid tax.
- Federal estate tax. A federal Form 706 is required only for larger estates — those above the federal exemption, currently $15,000,000 per person for 2026 — or when the fiduciary wants to elect portability of a deceased spouse's unused exemption for a surviving spouse's later benefit.
New York's estate tax has an unusual feature worth flagging even in a checklist: once a taxable estate exceeds the exclusion amount by more than 5%, the exclusion is lost entirely rather than merely reduced, so estates anywhere near the threshold deserve a valuation review well before the nine-month deadline arrives. Fiduciaries should calendar these deadlines the day letters issue — extensions exist, but interest generally keeps running while you wait.
Distributions, receipts, and closing the estate
Once the creditor window has closed, tax filings are underway or resolved, and the fiduciary has a clear picture of what remains, it is time to distribute. Three things typically happen in this stage:
Commissions. New York fiduciaries are entitled to statutory commissions under SCPA 2307, calculated on a sliding scale based on the value of the property received and paid out. Because commissions are taxable income to the fiduciary — unlike most inheritances — a family-member fiduciary who is also the primary beneficiary will sometimes waive them.
Distribution. The fiduciary distributes according to the will's terms or, in an intestate estate, according to EPTL 4-1.1. Specific bequests (a named item) and general bequests (a fixed dollar amount) are typically paid before the residuary estate is divided among the remaining beneficiaries.
Receipts, releases, and refunding agreements. Before — or immediately after — making a distribution, prudent fiduciaries obtain a signed receipt and release from each beneficiary, acknowledging what was received and releasing the fiduciary from further claims, along with a refunding agreement in case a later-discovered debt requires funds to be returned. When beneficiaries will not sign informally, or the estate is contested, the fiduciary can instead petition for a judicial accounting (SCPA 2208), asking the Surrogate to formally review the fiduciary's conduct and approve the final numbers.
Only after distributions are complete, commissions are paid, and releases (or a judicial decree) are in hand should the fiduciary close the estate's bank account and consider the matter finished. Records should be retained for several years afterward; a released fiduciary can still face questions if an asset or claim surfaces later.
How Schwartsman Law Group can help
Schwartsman Law Group PLLC guides executors and administrators through every item on this checklist — preparing the initial petition, marshaling complex or scattered assets, resolving creditor claims under SCPA 1811, coordinating estate and fiduciary tax filings, and bringing the estate to a clean, well-documented close. Whether you are just opening an estate or picking up a stalled administration, founding attorney Marianna Schwartsman and her team represent fiduciaries and beneficiaries throughout the Surrogate's Courts of New York City and Long Island, with offices in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Manhasset. If you would rather spare your own family this checklist one day, our estate planning practice can help you build a plan now. Call +1 212 518 3868 or request a free consultation to talk through where your estate stands today.