N.Y. Estates, Powers and Trusts Law 3-3.2 – Competence of attesting witness who is beneficiary; application
§ 3-3.2 Competence of attesting witness who is beneficiary; application
Terms Used In N.Y. Estates, Powers and Trusts Law 3-3.2
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
- Testify: Answer questions in court.
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
to nuncupative will
(a) An attesting witness to a will to whom a beneficial disposition or appointment of property is made is a competent witness and compellable to testify respecting the execution of such will as if no such disposition or appointment had been made, subject to the following:
(1) Any such disposition or appointment made to an attesting witness is void unless there are, at the time of execution and attestation, at least two other attesting witnesses to the will who receive no beneficial disposition or appointment thereunder.
(2) Subject to subparagraph (1), any such disposition or appointment to an attesting witness is effective unless the will cannot be proved without the testimony of such witness, in which case the disposition or appointment is void.
(3) Any attesting witness whose disposition is void hereunder, who would be a distributee if the will were not established, is entitled to receive so much of his intestate share as does not exceed the value of the disposition made to him in the will, such share to be recovered as follows:
(A) In case the void disposition becomes part of the residuary disposition, from the residuary disposition only.
(B) In case the void disposition passes in intestacy, ratibly from the distributees who succeed to such interest. For this purpose, the void disposition shall be distributed under 4-1.1 as though the attesting witness were not a distributee.
(b) The provisions of this section apply to witnesses to a nuncupative will authorized by 3-2.2.