Legal Question in Insurance Law in New York

Re: LIfe Insuance

Yes. The life insurance company should have written a check in the name of your late husband. How you handle the check depends on how his estate was handled. If his will was probated, or if his intestate estate was formally adminstered, you need to open a supplementary administration proceeding. You, as the surviving spouse, have the right to be appointed "administator d.b.n." "De bonis non" means "goods not [administered in the first estate]".

With the certificate of letters testamentary, you obtain a tax waiver from the IRS and NYS Tax Commission, which would reflect the tentative estate tax status of your late husband's estate. With the letters and the waivers, you go to the bank and open an account as administratrix d.b.n. of the estate of your husband. Then you can write checks from that to yourself and your first daughter, if daughter is of legal age, and she signs a receipt and release. Otherwise, you need to establish a trust to hold the money until she turns 18.

If the check is under $20,000, you can try using the small estate procedure, which the clerk of the Probate Court casn explain to you.