What debts need to be paid after a death? How do I submit against an estate?
Answer
Debts of a decedent are called "claims" in Surrogate's Court proceedings. From New York Estate Administration, Chapter 5 ("Claims") these two paragraphs introduce the topic of payment of claims:
"One of the responsibilities of a fiduciary is to pay all legitimate debts of the decedent before distributing the assets and to resist unjustified claims by asserting all appropriate defenses. If he distributes the estate assets prematurely, he can be personally liable to the creditors. SCPA Article 18 governs the fiduciary’s payment of the decedent’s debts, and this chapter discusses Article 18: the fiduciary’s liability for claims, the ways of giving notice to creditors, the allowance and rejection of claims, the reservation of funds for contingent or unliquidated claims, priorities among claims, and compromises with claimants.
"Article 18 also contains rules for creditors, who need to be especially careful about timing. Besides the obvious statute of limitations that attaches to the claim itself under the CPLR or other statutes, which stops running when the claimant files a claim with the fiduciary, the claimant must also be aware of a seven-month statute of limitations and a 60-day statute of limitations5 set forth in Article 18."
Also see Surrogate's Court Procedure Act §1310 ("Payment of certain debts without administration").
There are no standard Court forms to submit a claim against an estate. Public access law libraries have material on this topic. Some of the recommended sources are:
- Harris on Probate Administration and Litigation, Chapter 13 "Management of Assets and Payment of Claims"
- New York Estate Administration, Chapter 5 "Claims"
- West's McKinney's Forms Estates and Surrogate's Practice, Chapter 12 "Payment of Debts and Claims"