Under New York law, when a person dies leaving a spouse, or he or she dies without a spouse but leaves children under 21, specific assets are deemed to pass to those family members outside of the decedent’s estate, without an executor or administrator being appointed to manage those assets. The law was enacted to protect and provide for the decedent’s immediate family during a difficult time. The specified assets pass to the survivors immediately on death avoiding the delays inherent in a probate or intestate administration proceeding. These assets include the following:(1) furniture, appliances, computers valued up to $20,000; (2) books, the family bible, family pictures, video tapes, and computer tapes, disks, and software used by the family are exempt property up to a value of $2,500; (3) domestic animals with their necessary food for up to 60 days, farm machinery and one tractor, and one lawn tractor not exceeding an value of $20,000; (4) a car worth up to $25,000; (5) money or other personal property not exceeding $25,000.