On this page, you will find how the New York Estate law applies to a person who is convicted of murdering a joint tenant. They are not permitted to profit from that crime by inheriting the deceased joint tenant's interest in the property.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a joint tenant convicted of murder in the second degree as defined in section 125.25 of the penal law or murder in the first degree as defined in section 125.27 of the penal law of another joint tenant shall not be entitled to the distribution of any monies in a joint bank account created or contributed to by the deceased joint tenant, except for those monies contributed by the convicted joint tenant.
Upon the conviction of such joint tenant of first or second-degree murder and upon application by the prosecuting attorney, the court, as part of its sentence, shall issue an order directing the amount of any joint bank account to be distributed pursuant to the provisions of this section from the convicted joint tenant and to the deceased joint tenant's estate. The court and the prosecuting attorney shall each have the power to subpoena records of a banking institution to determine the amount of money in such bank account and by whom deposits were made. The court shall also have the power to freeze such account upon application by the prosecuting attorney during the pendency of a trial for first or second-degree murder. If, upon receipt of such court orders described in this section, the banking institution holding monies in such joint account complies with the terms of the order, such banking institution shall be held free from all liability for the distribution of such funds as were in such joint account. In the absence of actual or constructive notice of such order, the banking institution holding monies in such account shall be held harmless for distributing the money according to its ordinary course of business.
For purposes of this section, the term banking institution shall have the same meaning as provided for in paragraph (b) of subdivision three of section nine-f of the banking law.
