What are Letters Testamentary in New York City

Letters Testamentary is a document you get from the Surrogate’s Court. It enables you to act on behalf of an estate of a person who died with a will. A letters testamentary attorney can help you obtain them.

Here is a redacted image of Letters Testamentary obtained by our law firm:

Letters Testamentary is Not a Letter

The document, Letters Testamentary, is not a letter in the common sense of the word. In legal usage, the word “letters” means something along the lines of “Mandate, Authorization and Order.”

What follows is that a lawyer cannot issue letters of administration for you. The only thing a lawyer can do is to represent you in the process of obtaining the Letters Testamentary from the court.

If you are looking for an attorney who can represent you in getting letters testamentary, you can send us an email at [email protected] or call us at 212-233-1233.

Do I Actually need Letters Testamentary?

You cannot act as the executor until the court issues Letters Testamentary. Only then can you collect the assets of the estate, pay the estate’s debts and expenses and distribute the remainder to the estate’s beneficiaries.

What Letters Testamentary Allow You To Do

Letters Testamentary authorize a person to act as a representative of an estate. They allow a person to perform the responsibilities of an estate.

Here are some of the powers that the executor has once they are appointed as an executor of an estate by Letters Testamentary issued by the Surrogate’s Court:

Obtain a tax id number for an estate from the federal government
Open an estate bank account
Request information from banks and other institutions that control the decedent’s assets. The banks will comply if you show them the Letters Testamentary and the death certificate
Transfer assets from the decedent’s name to the name of the estate
Pay debts of the decedent
Collect claims of the decedent
Marshal assets of the estate
Distribute the estate assets to the beneficiaries of the estate, after obtaining proper waivers or providing an accounting

Those things would be impossible to do without Letters Testamentary. The banks will not give you information and will not transfer the money in the bank accounts, the county recorder will not record property deeds, and a buyer will not buy a property from you.

Who Can be Appointed as Executor

Letters Testamentary are issued when a person died with a will, to a person who applies and is appointed by the court as the administrator of a deceased person’s estate. A person can only be an executor of an estate if they are nominated by the will of the person who died and are otherwise qualified – are over the age of 18 and are not a convicted felon.

How Long Does it Take to Get Letters Testamentary

It typically takes a few months to get letters testamentary. If the probate is contested, i.e. if someone is challenging the will, then getting letters testamentary can take years, or they can be potentially denied altogether. Although getting the letters is only one of the steps of the probate process, it is the most important step.

Certificates of Appointment of Executor

Once you are granted Letters Testamentary, you will need to get a few Certificates of Appointment of Executor. You will need more than one since each bank and government agency would require an original. Also, some institutions require a more official-looking document. This is why the court can also issue a Certificate of Appointment of Executor, which is printed on a watermarked blue and red paper and looks similar to a death certificate, birth certificate or marriage certificate.

Here is a redacted image of a Certificate of Appointment of Executor obtained by our law firm:

If the person who died did not leave a will, the document will be similar and with similar powers, but it will be called “Letters of Administration,” and the Certificate will be called “Certificate of the Appointment of Administrator.”

Do Letters Testamentary Expire in New York

Whether or not your letters testamentary will expire depends on the text. If the document does not specify that it expires, then it does not expire. What does expire is the Certificate of Appointment of Executor. You would need to renew those every six months.

Where to File for Letters Testamentary

You will file this petition in the Surrogate’s Court where the decedent last resided. If the decedent died in a nursing home, you will file it in the county where the decedent was a resident before entering the nursing home.

Other Types of “Letters”

Letters Testamentary is distinguished from Letters of Administration (used when a person dies without a will) and Voluntary Letters of Administration (used when a person dies with a small estate).

If you do need legal representation for your Letters Testamentary, 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].