🔑 NY SCPA 2102(1): Beneficiary Standing Is Not Defeated by Corporate Form

SCPA 2102(1) limits relief to petitioners with standing—those who qualify as a "person interested" in the estate. In most cases, that inquiry is straightforward: beneficiaries, distributees, and creditors typically have standing; strangers do not.

For the standing framework that governs SCPA 2102(1), see 🔑 NY SCPA 2102(1) Requires Standing.

Confusion can arise, however, when assets are held indirectly—such as when the fiduciary, in a representative capacity, controls stock in a corporation that is part of the property being administered. In that setting, fiduciaries sometimes argue that a beneficiary lacks standing because the beneficiary is not a shareholder, or that the request for information resembles a shareholder derivative action.

New York courts have rejected that framing. Corporate form does not defeat beneficiary standing under SCPA 2102(1), and proceedings under that statute are not governed by derivative-action rules.
New York courts have rejected that framing. Corporate form does not defeat beneficiary standing under SCPA 2102(1), and proceedings under that statute are not governed by derivative-action rules.