11-1.5 - Payment of testamentary dispositions or distributive shares
§ 11-1.5 Payment of testamentary dispositions or distributive shares (a) Subject to his duty to retain sufficient assets to pay administration and reasonable funeral expenses, debts of the decedent and all taxes for which the estate is liable, a personal representative may, but, except as directed by will or court decree or order, shall not be required to, pay any testamentary disposition or distributive share before the completion of the publication of notice to creditors or, if no such notice is published, before the expiration of seven months from the time letters testamentary or of administration are granted. (b) Whenever a disposition is directed by will to be paid in advance of such publication of notice or the expiration of such seven month period, the personal representative may require a bond, conditioned as follows: (1) That if debts of the decedent appear, and the assets of the estate are insufficient to pay them or to pay other testamentary dispositions entitled, under 13-1.3, to payment equally with or prior to that of the disposition paid in advance, the beneficiary to whom advance payment was made will refund it, or the value thereof, together with interest thereon and any costs incurred by reason of such payment, or such ratable portion thereof, as is necessary to pay such debts or to satisfy the rights, if any, of other beneficiaries under the will. (2) That if the will, under which the disposition was paid, is denied probate, on appeal or otherwise, such beneficiary will refund the entire advance payment, together with interest and costs as described in subparagraph (1), to the personal representative entitled thereto. (c) If, after the publication of notice to creditors or the expiration of seven months from the time letters are granted, as the case may be, the personal representative refuses upon demand to pay a disposition or distributive share, the person entitled thereto may maintain an appropriate action or proceeding against such representative. But, for the purpose of computing the time limited for its commencement, the cause of action does not accrue until the personal representative's account is judicially settled. (d) In any action or proceeding to compel payment of a disposition or distributive share, the interest thereon, if any, shall, in the case of a disposition, be at the rate fixed in the will or, if none is so fixed, in any case at the rate of six percent per annum commencing seven months from the time letters, including preliminary or temporary letters, are granted. (e) Upon application by any legatees of the general dispositions on notice to the fiduciary, the court, where the delay in payment was unreasonable, may fix interest in the amount set forth in section five thousand four of the civil practice law and rules.