🔑 SCPA 1404 Examinations Allowed Where In Terrorem Clause Is in Revocable Trust, Not Pour‑Over Will (NY County Surrogate’s Court, Feb. 2026)

In a February 2026 decision,^[1] the New York County Surrogate’s Court addressed how an in terrorem clause operates when it appears in a revocable trust rather than in the will itself, in a typical pour‑over estate plan.

The decedent’s will poured the entire estate into a revocable trust executed on the same date. The trust—not the will—contained a broad in terrorem clause providing for forfeiture if a beneficiary contested the trust’s validity.