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Statutes » New York » RPA Law » Article 9

N.Y. RPA Law § 991

This is the official text of N.Y. RPA Law § 991, part of New York’s RPA Law — part of the compiled statutory law of New York, published by the state as "RPA Law." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Proceeding for share of unknown heirs; presumption of death; service

Official statutory text

§ 991. Proceeding for share of unknown heirs; presumption of death;\nservice. 1. Where a portion of the proceeds of the sale is paid into\ncourt for unknown heirs and is unclaimed by any person entitled thereto\nfor twenty-five years after such payment the unknown heirs are presumed\nto have been dead at the time of the sale. A special proceeding may be\ncommenced for the distribution of such proceeds to the persons entitled\nthereto.\n 2. The notice of petition and petition shall be served upon the\nunknown heirs or their representatives, the known heirs, their next of\nkin, representatives or distributees, and all persons interested in such\nproceeds. Service shall be made at least twenty days before the time at\nwhich the petition is noticed to be heard. Each of the known persons\nwithin the state, and the comptroller of the state if any proceeds have\nbeen paid over to him by a county treasurer, shall be served personally.\nAll other persons shall be served in the manner prescribed for the\nservice by publication of a summons.\n

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.