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SCPA 1802: Presenting a Claim Against a New York Estate — Deadlines and Procedure
When a person dies in New York owing money, whether an unpaid loan, an unpaid invoice, back rent, a caregiver’s wages or a judgment, the creditor cannot simply demand payment from the family. The debt becomes a claim against the estate, and New York channels that claim through the procedure in Article 18 of the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA). The centerpiece is SCPA 1802, which sets the well-known seven-month rule for presenting claims to the executor or administrator.
This page explains what SCPA 1802 does and does not do, how to present a claim properly under SCPA 1803, what happens when a claim is rejected, the 60-day rule of SCPA 1810, the order in which debts are paid under SCPA 1811, and the mistakes that most often cost creditors their recovery. We represent creditors presenting claims and fiduciaries deciding how to answer them; see our page on creditor claims against an estate.
What SCPA 1802 says
SCPA 1802 gives the fiduciary (the executor of a will or the administrator of an intestate estate) a seven-month window, running from the date the Surrogate’s Court issues letters, within which creditors are expected to present their claims. If a creditor presents a written claim within seven months of the issuance of letters, the fiduciary must deal with it, by allowing it, rejecting it or reserving for it, before distributing the estate to the beneficiaries.
If a creditor presents a claim after seven months, the claim is not automatically barred, but the fiduciary is protected. A fiduciary who has already distributed estate assets in good faith before the late claim arrived is not personally liable to that creditor for the assets already paid out.
This is the single most misunderstood point in New York estate creditor practice. The seven-month period is not a statute of limitations. A late claim is still legally valid if the underlying debt is valid and timely under the CPLR. What the late claimant may find is that the estate has been emptied, leaving only the harder remedy of pursuing the beneficiaries who received distributions, in a separate proceeding against people who may already have spent the money.
A worked example
Suppose letters testamentary are issued to an executor on March 1, 2024. The seven-month period runs through October 1, 2024. A contractor owed $40,000 presents a written claim on June 15, 2024. The executor must address that claim before distributing the estate; if the executor distributes without paying or reserving for it, the executor can be held personally liable for the $40,000 in a later accounting proceeding.
Now suppose the same contractor instead presents the claim on December 10, 2024, after the executor distributed a $300,000 estate to three beneficiaries in November. The executor, having acted in good faith after the seven months expired, is protected under SCPA 1802. The contractor’s remedy is to pursue the three beneficiaries for their proportionate shares of the $40,000, a slower and costlier path.
What counts as a claim
Article 18 covers claims that arose against the decedent before death or against the estate itself: contract debts such as personal loans, promissory notes, unpaid invoices and credit accounts; unpaid rent, services rendered or wages, including claims by home health aides and caregivers; judgments entered against the decedent; tort claims for personal injury or property damage caused by the decedent; and contingent or unliquidated claims whose amount is not yet fixed, which SCPA 1804 addresses by permitting the court to require the fiduciary to hold a reserve.
Distributive shares and bequests are not claims; a beneficiary demanding an inheritance proceeds under different provisions. Funeral expenses and administration expenses are likewise not ordinary creditor claims; SCPA 1811 treats them as preferred charges against the estate.
How to present a claim: SCPA 1803
SCPA 1803 governs the form and method of presentation, and getting it wrong is a common and avoidable error. The claim must be in writing and must state the facts on which it is based and the amount claimed. The fiduciary may require the claimant to support the claim with an affidavit stating that the claim is justly due, that no payments have been made on it, and that there are no offsets or counterclaims. A claimant who ignores such a demand risks having the claim disregarded.
The claim must be delivered personally to the fiduciary or sent by certified mail, return receipt requested. If mailed, presentation is effective on receipt, not on mailing. A phone call, an email or a conversation with a family member is not presentation under the statute. Prudent claimants also file a copy with the Surrogate’s Court so the claim appears in the court file, but the statutory act of presentation is delivery to the fiduciary.
A claim can be presented as soon as letters issue. If no fiduciary has been appointed, a creditor may petition the Surrogate’s Court for letters of administration as a creditor, or seek the appointment of a fiduciary so that there is someone to present the claim to.
After presentation: allowance or rejection under SCPA 1806
Once a claim is presented, the fiduciary has three practical options. The first is to allow the claim, in which case it is paid in the order of priority set by SCPA 1811, ordinarily after the seven-month period ends so the fiduciary knows the full universe of claims. The second is to reject the claim, in whole or in part, by serving a written notice of rejection on the claimant; if the fiduciary doubts the justice or validity of a claim, SCPA 1806 directs the fiduciary to reject it in writing. The third is to do nothing. Silence is not allowance. A claimant facing an unresponsive fiduciary may commence an action on the debt, or petition to compel an accounting under SCPA 2205, in which the claim will be heard and determined under SCPA 1808.
The fiduciary also has a proactive tool. Under SCPA 1809, the fiduciary may petition the Surrogate’s Court to determine the validity of a presented claim before the accounting, rather than leaving it unresolved.
The 60-day rule after rejection: SCPA 1810
SCPA 1810 preserves a claimant’s right to sue on the debt in any court of competent jurisdiction, but with a critical condition: where a claim has been presented and rejected in whole or in part, an action on the claim must be commenced within 60 days after the rejection. A claimant who lets the 60 days pass is deemed to have consented to have the claim heard and determined in the Surrogate’s Court accounting proceeding under SCPA 1808.
Two points deserve emphasis. Missing the 60-day window does not extinguish the claim; it forfeits the right to a separate plenary lawsuit and relegates the claimant to the accounting, which may not occur for years and which the claimant may need to compel under SCPA 2205. And presenting a claim does not toll the statute of limitations on the underlying debt. A claimant who presents a claim and then waits can watch the CPLR limitations period expire while the claim sits “pending” with the fiduciary.
Statutes of limitations and the CPLR 210(b) extension
The underlying debt must still be timely under the CPLR: six years for most contract claims (CPLR 213), three years for most property damage and personal injury claims (CPLR 214). Because death complicates enforcement, CPLR 210(b) provides that the eighteen months after the debtor’s death are not counted as part of the limitations period for commencing an action against the executor or administrator.
For example, a borrower defaults on a $25,000 promissory note on January 1, 2019, starting a six-year period that would ordinarily expire January 1, 2025. The borrower dies on September 1, 2024, with four months left on the clock. Under CPLR 210(b) the eighteen months after death, through March 1, 2026, are excluded, so the creditor’s remaining four months run from March 1, 2026, and an action against the estate is timely if commenced by approximately July 1, 2026.
Order of payment: SCPA 1811
When the estate has enough assets, the order of payment rarely matters. When it does not, SCPA 1811 controls who is paid first.
| Priority | Category |
|---|---|
| 1 | Reasonable funeral expenses and administration expenses (legal fees, fiduciary commissions, court costs) |
| 2 | Debts entitled to preference under federal and New York law (notably federal tax debts and certain government claims, including Medicaid recovery) |
| 3 | Property taxes assessed on the decedent’s property before death |
| 4 | Judgments and decrees docketed against the decedent, in order of docketing |
| 5 | All other debts (notes, contracts, accounts, unliquidated claims), without preference among them |
If the estate is insolvent, creditors within the same class share pro rata. A fiduciary has no authority to prefer one general creditor over another, and no debt of any class may be paid until the higher classes are satisfied or reserved for. Suppose an insolvent estate holds $60,000 after funeral and administration expenses, with no preferred or tax debts, and general claims of $90,000 and $30,000. The two creditors share pro rata, receiving $45,000 and $15,000 respectively.
Special situations
The fiduciary’s own claim: SCPA 1805
An executor or administrator who is personally a creditor of the decedent, which is common where a child paid a parent’s expenses, cannot simply pay himself. Under SCPA 1805, the fiduciary’s personal claim must be proved to and allowed by the court, typically in the accounting, where the beneficiaries may object and the claim is scrutinized closely.
Proof problems and the Dead Man’s Statute
Under SCPA 1807 and CPLR 4519 (the Dead Man’s Statute), a claimant is generally barred from testifying to personal transactions or conversations with the decedent when the testimony is offered against the estate. A claim resting entirely on “the decedent promised me,” with no writing, cancelled checks, invoices or disinterested witnesses, frequently fails for lack of admissible proof. Claims for personal services rendered to a decedent are viewed with particular skepticism and must be established by clear and convincing evidence.
Common pitfalls
The same handful of mistakes account for most of the recoveries that are lost, on both sides of the claim.
| Mistake | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Treating seven months as a hard bar | Creditors abandon valid late claims; fiduciaries wrongly assume they can ignore claims presented after seven months while assets remain undistributed. |
| Informal presentation | An email or verbal demand is not presentation under SCPA 1803. Use personal delivery or certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep the proof. |
| Missing the 60-day deadline after a written rejection | The right to a plenary action is lost, and the claimant may wait years for an accounting. |
| Assuming presentation tolls the statute of limitations | It does not. Calendar the CPLR deadline, adjusted for the CPLR 210(b) eighteen-month exclusion. |
| Fiduciary distributing early | Paying beneficiaries before the seven months expire forfeits the good-faith protection of SCPA 1802 and exposes the fiduciary to personal liability for timely claims. |
| Ignoring priority | A fiduciary who pays general creditors while preferred debts such as federal taxes remain unpaid may be personally liable for the shortfall. |
Speak with a New York estate attorney
Whether you are a creditor trying to recover a debt from an estate or a fiduciary deciding how to respond to a presented claim, the deadlines under SCPA 1802, 1803 and 1810 are unforgiving of informality. We present creditor claims in the statutory form and on time, and for executors and administrators we evaluate and reject defective claims so the estate does not overpay. We can assess the validity, timeliness and proof of a claim before the critical deadlines pass. Call us at 212-233-1233 or email [email protected].
Related resources on this site: do you inherit your parents’ debt and estate litigation.
About the Author
Albert Goodwin Esq. is a licensed New York attorney with over 18 years of courtroom experience. His extensive knowledge and experience make him well-qualified to write authoritative articles on a wide range of legal topics. He can be reached at 212-233-1233 or [email protected].
