Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Only the original will may be probated except under some very rare conditions.

There is a provision under NY law for the probate of a lost or destroyed will. Such a will may be admitted to probate, but doing so is very difficult, because you'd have to prove that the will has not been revoked. Revoking a will requires no formal ceremony -- rather, merely tearing the will up is a sufficient way to revoke it. Thus, the problem with probating a mere copy of a will is that you have to overcome the presumption of revocation.

The only time I've advised a client to seek to probate a copy of a will was when the original will had been retained by the attorney draftsman and his office was later destroyed by arson during rioting nearby. In that case, the presumption of revocation could effectively be overcome.

Good luck to you.