New York

Governing law & venue

• New York Surrogate's Court Procedure Act (SCPA) and Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL).
• Filed in the Surrogate's Court of the county where the decedent was domiciled.
• Each of the 62 counties has its own Surrogate's Court (NYC has one in each borough).

Main paths

• Probate (testate) under SCPA Article 14 — court admits the will and issues letters testamentary to the executor.
• Administration (intestate) under SCPA Article 10 — court issues letters of administration to the closest distributee under EPTL 4-1.1.
• Voluntary administration / small estate under SCPA Article 13 — available when personal property is $50,000 or less and there is no real property. Filed by affidavit; no formal fiduciary appointment.

Family protections

• EPTL 5-3.1 family exemption sets aside up to roughly $25,000 cash plus a vehicle, household items, and certain personal items for the surviving spouse or minor children, outside the small-estate cap.
• EPTL 5-1.1-A spousal right of election — surviving spouse may elect against the will for the greater of $50,000 or one-third of the net estate.

Creditors & timing

• Creditors generally have 7 months from issuance of letters to present claims under SCPA §1802.
• Uncontested estates frequently take 6–12 months; contested probates and kinship proceedings can run multiple years.

Why it matters for operators

• Voluntary administration's no-real-property limit means most New York homes still require full administration or probate — creating consistent title and heirship work.
• Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Westchester Surrogate's Courts are some of the busiest in the country, generating heavy volume of inherited multifamily and 1–4 family deal flow.
• Spousal election, kinship, and unknown-heir issues regularly intersect with foreclosure, surplus claims, and tax-lien sales upstate.

Governing law & venue

• New York is a judicial foreclosure state for residential mortgages.
• Mortgage foreclosure: RPAPL Article 13 (§§1301–1393).
• Pleadings, statute of limitations, and amendments: CPLR Article 2 and §213(4) (six-year SOL).
• Filed in Supreme Court of the county where the property is located.

Pre-foreclosure notices

• RPAPL §1304 — 90-day pre-foreclosure notice for owner-occupied 1–4 family homes and co-ops.
• RPAPL §1303 — "Help for Homeowners in Foreclosure" notice on colored paper, served with the summons and complaint.
• RPAPL §1306 — step filing with the Department of Financial Services.

Filing, service & settlement conference

• Plaintiff files a summons, complaint, lis pendens (CPLR Article 65), and certificate of merit (CPLR §3012-b).
• Borrower has 20–30 days to answer (depending on service).
• CPLR §3408 mandatory settlement conference for owner-occupied 1–4 family homes and co-ops — a major source of delay in NYC and the metro.

Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act (FAPA)

• Signed Dec. 30, 2022; significantly tightened the six-year statute of limitations under CPLR §213(4) in the borrower's favor.
• Estops lenders from arguing a prior accelerated action did not validly accelerate the loan, absent express judicial determination.
• Constitutionality affirmed by the New York Court of Appeals on Nov. 25, 2025 (Article 13, LLC v. LaSalle).
• The U.S. Supreme Court denied cert in U.S. Bank v. Fox on Oct. 6, 2025, leaving FAPA fully operative.

Judgment, referee & sale

• Court issues an order of reference, then a judgment of foreclosure and sale appointing a referee.
• Sale is conducted by the referee, typically at the courthouse; a remote-bidding pilot has been authorized in Queens, Monroe, and Niagara counties, with broader judicial-district adoption underway.
• Successful bidder pays a 10% deposit at sale; closing follows under the terms of sale.

Surplus & post-judgment

• Distribution of proceeds: RPAPL §1354.
• Referee's report of sale and confirmation: RPAPL §1355.
• Surplus money proceeding: RPAPL §1361 (notice of claim filed before confirmation; reference to determine priorities).
• Deficiency judgment: RPAPL §1371 (90-day window, fair-market-value cap).
• Post-judgment zombie-property timeline: 90 days to auction, 180 days to list (RPAPL §§1351, 1353).

Practical timing & 2025 context

• Statewide filing-to-sale: typically 2–4 years in defended cases, less in defaulted upstate matters.
• NY had 13,664 foreclosure starts in 2025, fifth-highest in the nation, and the NYC metro led all metros with 14,189 starts and 1,462 REOs (ATTOM 2025 year-end report).
• Activity is concentrated in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, with rising 2-family and small commercial filings.

Governing law & venue

• New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law: RPAPL Article 7 (summary proceedings) and §711 (nonpayment, holdover).
• Real Property Law: RPL §232-a (NYC month-to-month) and §232-b (outside NYC), with longer notice tiers under the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA).
• Filed in NYC Housing Court (Civil Court — Housing Part), city courts, district courts (Nassau/Suffolk), or local town/village justice courts.

Required notices

• Nonpayment — written 14-day rent demand under RPAPL §711(2).
• Holdover / lease violation — typically a 10-day notice to cure plus a notice to terminate.
• No-cause / market-rate non-renewal — 30 / 60 / 90-day notice tiers based on length of occupancy under RPL §226-c.
• Rent-stabilized / regulated units — layered notice and good-cause rules.

Service & filing

• Notice of petition and petition served under RPAPL §735 (personal, substituted, or conspicuous-place / "nail and mail").
• Tenant's response window typically 10–17 days from service depending on method.

Hearing & judgment

• Judges actively encourage settlements; many cases resolve through stipulations.
• If landlord prevails, court issues a judgment of possession and a warrant of eviction.
• Marshals (NYC) or sheriff (outside NYC) execute the warrant; tenants must receive a 14-day notice before the marshal or sheriff can perform the eviction.

Practical timing

• NYC nonpayment cases commonly take 6–12+ months end-to-end given calendar congestion.
• Upstate justice and city courts often resolve nonpayment in 2–4 months for clean defaults.
• ERAP, prior pandemic-era stays, and ongoing rent-stabilization defenses can extend timelines further.

Why it matters for operators

• New York is one of the most tenant-protective regimes in the country.
• Modeling carrying costs, vacancy assumptions, and post-foreclosure occupancy is essential before underwriting NY 1–4 family or small multifamily acquisitions, especially in NYC and Westchester.

Governing law & venue

• New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law: RPAPL Article 15 (§1501 et seq.) — "Action to compel the determination of a claim to real property."
• RPAPL §1501(4) — specific statutory hook to cancel and discharge a mortgage barred by the six-year statute of limitations.
• Filed in Supreme Court of the county where the property is located.

Common use cases

• Time-barred / FAPA-affected mortgages still on record.
• Forged or fraudulent deeds and "deed theft" matters (especially in Brooklyn and Queens).
• Tax-deed and tax-lien purchase cleanup, particularly upstate.
• Adverse possession and boundary disputes.
• Heirship gaps, missing or unknown distributees, and stale liens.

Procedure

• Plaintiff files a summons and complaint alleging actual or constructive possession and a removable cloud.
• Property identified by block and lot or metes-and-bounds.
• Known parties served personally; unknown claimants by service by publication with court order.
• Case proceeds by default or contested motion practice; ends with a judgment that is recorded with the county clerk to clear title.

Practical timing

• Uncontested matters: roughly 6–12 months, longer if publication, kinship, or guardian ad litem appointments are required.
• Contested cases (deed theft, adverse possession) can extend well beyond a year.

Why it matters for operators

• Quiet title is the practical bridge between a tax-deed or auction product and an insurable, marketable interest in New York.
• Combined with FAPA's tightened SOL, RPAPL §1501(4) actions have become a meaningful tool for clearing stale residential mortgages from title across NYC and the suburbs.

Federal districts

• Southern District of New York (SDNY) — Manhattan, Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan.
• Eastern District of New York (EDNY) — Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Nassau, Suffolk.
• Northern District of New York (NDNY) — Albany, Syracuse, Utica, Binghamton, the North Country.
• Western District of New York (WDNY) — Buffalo, Rochester, the Southern Tier.

Most common chapters

• Chapter 7 — liquidation with discharge of unsecured debts.
• Chapter 13 — 3–5 year repayment plan; commonly used to cure mortgage arrears and stop New York's long judicial foreclosures.

Automatic stay (11 U.S.C. §362)

• Triggered at filing; freezes foreclosure auctions, evictions in many cases, garnishments, and most collection activity.
• Lifts on dismissal, motion for relief, or discharge.

New York exemption scheme — elective

• New York is an opt-in state: debtors may choose either the federal exemptions under 11 U.S.C. §522(d) or the New York scheme under Debtor & Creditor Law §§282–283, CPLR §5205, and CPLR §5206.
• Homestead exemption (CPLR §5206) — tiered by county, periodically inflation-adjusted by the Department of Financial Services:
• Highest tier (Bronx, Kings, Queens, NY, Richmond, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Westchester, Putnam) — approx. $179,975 per debtor.
• Middle tier (Dutchess, Albany, Columbia, Orange, Saratoga, Ulster) — approx. $149,975 per debtor.
• Remaining counties — approx. $89,975 per debtor.
• Joint owners can stack their exemptions on the same residence.
• CPLR §5205 — personal property exemptions (motor vehicle, household goods, tools of trade, retirement accounts, wages).

Why it matters for operators

• Chapter 13 is heavily used in NY to stretch and cure judicial foreclosures, often in tandem with FAPA defenses.
• Homestead tiers materially affect short-payoff math and surplus expectations on appreciated NYC and downstate homes.
• Early read on the borrower's likely chapter and exemption elections is one of the most important variables in pricing New York distressed deals.