(a) Death of claimant. Where a person entitled to commence an action dies before the expiration of the time within which the action must be commenced and the cause of action survives, an action may be commenced by his representative within one year after his death.
§ 210.Death of claimant or person liable; cause of action accruing after death and before grant of letters.
Article 2. Limitations of Time · Last amended 1963 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceGives a deceased claimant's representative one year after death to sue, tolls a claim against a person who died for eighteen months following that death, and sets accrual rules for estate claims over property taken before letters are issued.
Full Text of CPLR 210
(b) Death of person liable. The period of eighteen months after the death, within or without the state, of a person against whom a cause of action exists is not a part of the time within which the action must be commenced against his executor or administrator.
(c) Cause of action accruing after death and before grant of letters. In an action by an executor or administrator to recover personal property wrongfully taken after the death and before the issuance of letters, or to recover damages for taking, detaining or injuring personal property within that period, the time within which the action must be commenced shall be computed from the time the letters are issued or from three years after the death, whichever event first occurs. Any distributee, next of kin, legatee or creditor who was under a disability prescribed in section 208 at the time the cause of action accrued, may, within two years after the disability ceases, commence an action to recover such damages or the value of such property as he would have received upon a final distribution of the estate if an action had been timely commenced by the executor or administrator.
Plain-English Summary
Death interrupts litigation the same way it interrupts everything else, and CPLR 210 supplies rules for three distinct timing problems death creates. Subdivision (a) covers a claimant who dies before the limitations period runs out: if the claim survives the claimant's death, not all do, the claimant's representative gets one year after the death to bring it, regardless of how much of the original period remained.
Subdivision (b) covers the opposite situation — the person who owed the claim dies. The eighteen months following that death, whether the person died in New York or elsewhere, doesn't count against the time to sue their executor or administrator. That fixed period replaced an older, more generous rule that measured extra time from when letters testamentary issued rather than from the death itself, a change the drafters judged unnecessarily favorable to the claimant.
Subdivision (c) handles a gap that occurs whenever someone dies and an estate representative hasn't yet been appointed: a claim by the estate to recover personal property wrongfully taken, or damaged, during that gap runs from the earlier of the letters being issued or three years after the death. A distributee, heir, legatee, or creditor who was themselves under a disability recognized by CPLR 208 when the claim accrued gets an additional two years after that disability ends to bring the claim, if the executor or administrator never did.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does an executor have to sue after the person owed money dies?
CPLR 210(a) gives a deceased claimant's representative one year after the death to commence the action, if the underlying cause of action survives the claimant's death.
Does the statute of limitations pause when the person who could be sued dies?
Yes. CPLR 210(b) excludes the eighteen months following that person's death, whether they died in New York or elsewhere, from the time within which the action against their executor or administrator must be commenced.
What happens if someone takes estate property before an executor is appointed?
CPLR 210(c) lets the estate sue over that property within three years of the death, or from when letters are issued, whichever comes first, giving the estate a defined window even without an appointed representative yet in place.
Does CPLR 210 protect an heir who was a minor when the claim accrued?
Yes. If a distributee, heir, legatee, or creditor was under a disability recognized by CPLR 208 when the claim accrued, CPLR 210(c) gives them two extra years after the disability ends to bring the claim themselves if the executor or administrator never did.
Does CPLR 210 apply differently depending on whether the person died inside or outside New York?
No, not under subdivision (b). The eighteen-month toll following the death of a person against whom a claim exists applies whether that person died within or outside New York.
Advisory Committee Notes
This section consolidates into a single section the several death provisions contained in CPA §§ 12, 20, 21 and 57 which affect the statutes of limitation.
Subd (a) is derived from CPA § 20.
Subd (b) is a consolidation and adaptation of CPA §§ 12 and 21. Section 12 governed the effect of death without the state, and § 21 the effect of death within the state, of a person against whom a cause of action exists. Section 12 prescribed an extension of eighteen months after letters were issued while § 21 measured the period from death. Subdivision (b) of this section allows an eighteen-month extension measured from the death whether the person liable dies within or without the state. The second sentence of CPA § 21, giving a longer time if letters testamentary or letters of administration were not issued within the state six months before the end of the extended time to bring the action, is deleted as unnecessarily favorable to the claimant.
CPA § 22, governing the effect of a pending action involving a decedent’s estate upon a subsequent proceeding against an executor or administrator, is deleted. No case has been found implementing this ambiguous section.
Subd (c) is adapted from CPA § 57. The former six years which could be gained where letters testamentary or letters of administration were not issued is reduced to three years. The limitation therefore runs from the time of appointment of an executor or administrator or from three years after death, whichever is earlier. A reduction from five years to two years is likewise made in the extension allowed to a beneficiary under a disability prescribed in new CPLR § 208 where the executor or administrator has failed to prosecute an action for the recovery of personal property wrongfully taken after the death of the decedent. Specification of the disabilities is deleted from this section, and reference to § 208 is substituted.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308, § 1, eff Sept 1, 1963.
Source & verification. Provision text, History, and Advisory
Committee Notes are reproduced verbatim from the Consolidated Laws of New York.
Last verified July 21, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: statute of limitations death of a party New Yorksuing an estate deadline New Yorkexecutor time to sue New York