Access to a House After Death

If your loved one died and you lived with them, you still have access to the house after their death. You can continue living in the house and cannot be removed from the house without a court order. But if you are not on the lease or on the deed, you will not have access to the house indefinitely. You will eventually be evicted from the property.

If someone is living in the house after the death of a loved one and you would like to access it, you can request access from the occupant or if your request is refused, get a court order to access the house. However, if your loved one died alone, his death must have been reported by a neighbor or relative to the police, and the police must have come to seal the house or the apartment after removing your loved one’s body from the house. In this case, you’d like to know, ‘how can you access the house after death?’

In New York, once the apartment or house is sealed, you can access the house after death by filing a petition to examine the residence with the Surrogate’s Court in the county where the decedent was a resident. This examination is limited to finding important papers, such as the will of the deceased, insurance policies in the name of the deceased, and a deed to a burial plot in which said deceased is to be interred. Once an Order to Examine the Residence is issued, the Surrogate’s Court directs the New York Police Department to allow you limited access to the house for the purpose of finding the above-mentioned important papers, to make an inventory of the contents of the premises, and to take clothing for the burial of the deceased loved one.

Here is more information about access to a house sealed by the police.

If your loved one has died and you would like access to the house after death, we, at the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin, are here for you. We have offices in New York City, Brooklyn, NY, and Queens, NY. You can call us at 212-233-1233 or send us an email at [email protected].