Does a house go through probate if there's no will in New York?

There's no will to probate, but the estate still goes through New York Surrogate's Court in a proceeding called 'administration.' Court involvement is still required before the house can be legally sold or transferred.

Who has the legal right to sell a house with no will in New York?

Either all of the decedent's distributees (heirs) must join together and sign the deed, or the Surrogate's Court must appoint an administrator with Letters of Administration authorizing the sale on the estate's behalf.

Do you need a lawyer to handle a New York house with no will?

It isn't legally required, but a no-will estate involving real estate commonly stalls without one, due to kinship proof, bond requirements, and coordinating multiple heirs through both Surrogate's Court and a real estate closing.

Died Without a Will in New York? Here’s What Happens to the House

Q: Who inherits the house if there's no will in New York?

Under EPTL 4-1.1, a surviving spouse with children gets the first $50,000 plus half the residue, with children splitting the rest; a spouse alone inherits everything; children alone split everything equally; and with no spouse or children, the estate passes to parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives.

Q: How long does it take to get authority to sell a house with no will in New York?

It commonly takes several months. The court must confirm the correct person has priority to serve as administrator, verify kinship, and in many cases require a bond, since there is no will waiving that requirement.

Died Without a Will in New York? Here's What Happens to the House

Someone in your family died in New York, and there’s no will. Now there’s a house — maybe the house they lived in for forty years — and nobody is sure who owns it, who’s allowed to sell it, or whether “the state” is somehow going to take it. That last fear is the one that keeps people up at night, and it’s almost always wrong. Here’s what New York law actually does with a house when there’s no will, in plain terms.

What does it mean to die “intestate” in New York?

“Intestate” just means someone died without a valid will. When that happens, New York’s Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) §4-1.1 — not the decedent’s wishes, because there’s no document expressing them — decides who inherits. The court process is called an “administration” proceeding instead of “probate” (probate technically means proving a will), but functionally it runs through the same court, Surrogate’s Court, and covers the same ground: who’s in charge, who gets what, and how the estate’s assets — including real estate — get transferred or sold.

Who inherits the house if there’s no will in New York?

EPTL §4-1.1 sets a fixed order, and it applies to real property the same as everything else in the estate:

If the decedent left a spouse and children: the spouse receives the first $50,000 plus half of what’s left; the children split the remaining half.

If the decedent left a spouse and no children: the spouse inherits everything.

If the decedent left children and no spouse: the children split everything equally (by representation, so a deceased child’s share passes to that child’s own children).

If there’s no spouse and no children: the estate passes to surviving parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives, in that statutory order.

Because a house is often the single biggest asset in an estate, these percentages get real fast. A surviving spouse and two kids with a $50,000 bank account and a $700,000 house are now co-owners of that house in specific fractional shares — and none of them individually can make decisions about it alone.

Does the house have to go through probate if there’s no will?

There’s no will to probate, but yes — the estate still needs the Surrogate’s Court involved before anyone can act on the house with full legal authority. Title to New York real property technically vests in the heirs (called “distributees”) automatically at the moment of death, by operation of law. But “you technically own a fractional share of a house” and “you can sign a deed, get title insurance, and close a sale” are two very different things. In practice, almost every real estate transaction requires someone to hold Letters of Administration from the court before a title company will insure the sale.

Who has the legal right to sell the house if there’s no will?

One of two things has to happen. Either every single distributee agrees and signs the deed together — which gets difficult fast if there are five heirs, one is unreachable, or one is a minor — or the court appoints an administrator who has authority to act on the estate’s behalf. That’s the no-will equivalent of getting Letters Testamentary to sell real estate when there is a will: same problem, different document, same court.

If the property is a co-op apartment rather than a house, the mechanics shift slightly, since a co-op share is personal property, not real estate — see our guide on selling an inherited co-op in New York City if that’s your situation.

No will. Real estate. One family, overwhelmed.

Anthony S. Park, PLLC serves as your attorney and your court-appointed administrator, and manages the property sale — one firm, one point of contact, nothing for you to coordinate.

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How long does it take to get authority to sell a house with no will in New York?

Longer than most families expect, and often longer than a comparable case with a will. Without a will naming an executor, the court has to confirm who’s actually entitled to serve as administrator (priority runs spouse, then children, then other relatives), verify kinship, and — unless every distributee signs a waiver — often require the administrator to post a bond, which adds both cost and time. Add in locating and getting paperwork from out-of-state or hard-to-reach heirs, and a few months is common before anyone can legally list the house.

What if the heirs live out of state and don’t want to deal with any of it?

This is one of the most common situations we see: an out-of-state or international heir who has no interest in flying to New York to sit through Surrogate’s Court hearings, meet with real estate agents, or empty out a house. That’s a big part of why our firm exists in its current form — we handle the estate administration, serve as professional executor or administrator when appropriate, and manage the property sale, so a family member never has to be physically present or personally responsible. If you’re trying to sell a New York property from outside the state or the country, see our related guide on selling a deceased relative’s New York real estate if you live abroad.

What if there are multiple heirs and they don’t agree?

Multiple distributees with equal legal claims to the same house is one of the more common sources of friction in a no-will estate — one heir wants to keep the house, another wants to sell immediately, a third hasn’t returned a phone call in six months. A neutral, court-appointed administrator (rather than one heir trying to act unilaterally) is often the cleanest way through this, because the administrator has a fiduciary duty to the estate as a whole, not to any one heir’s preference. See 5 reasons to hire a professional executor to sell probate real estate for more on how that role works in practice.

Do you need a lawyer if there’s no will and a house is involved in New York?

Nothing in New York law technically requires it. In practice, it’s hard to do well without one: proving kinship to the court’s satisfaction, handling bond requirements, coordinating multiple distributees, and closing a real estate sale with a title company are all places where a no-will estate commonly stalls out. That’s the entire reason our firm is built the way it is: one point of contact who is simultaneously the attorney, the professional executor or administrator, and the person managing the property sale — no handoffs between a lawyer, a separate executor, and a separate real estate agent who don’t talk to each other.

If someone died in New York owning real estate and there’s no will, the house is not in limbo and the state is not taking it — but somebody still needs legal authority before anything happens to it. That’s the part we handle, start to finish.