People from all over the world have assets located in New York, from bank accounts and securities, to artwork and real estate. Whether you are an individual who bought an apartment for a child in college or an art aficionado getting an appraisal from Christie’s or Sotheby’s, it is worth considering what happens to these assets on death. How do the next of kin or beneficiaries get access to the property (the right to enter your apartment, for instance)? What are the tax consequences? We hope that this article will present a few practical pointers for globetrotters. We’ll take a particularly close look at New York real estate investment and ownership by people who are not U.S. citizens and are not domiciled in New York or the U.S. We’ll call them Internationals. Remember “domicile” is defined differently for estate and income tax purposes. Since we are looking at issues that arise on death, “domicile” means living in the U.S. with the intent to remain indefinitely rather than number of days physically present in the U.S.

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