How to Release a New York Estate Tax Lien: ET-117, ET-30, and ET-85 Explained

The moment someone dies in New York owning real estate, an invisible lien attaches to that property by operation of law. You don't receive notice. No one files anything. The lien simply exists — blocking every sale, transfer, and refinance until the estate navigates the release process with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

If you're trying to sell an inherited property or transfer title after a death, clearing this lien is your first task.

Why the Lien Exists

New York Tax Law imposes an automatic statutory lien on all real property located in the state at the moment of the owner's death. The purpose is straightforward: the state wants to ensure that estate taxes get paid before the property changes hands and becomes harder to recover against.

The lien is not a judgment lien or a filed document. It's a statutory encumbrance that title insurance companies treat as a defect in title. As a practical matter, no title company will insure a transaction on New York real estate without a lien release from the Tax Department — and buyers' mortgage lenders require title insurance. This means no release equals no sale.

The Lien Applies to Co-op Apartments Too

Here's something that surprises many people: the lien also attaches to New York cooperative apartments, even though a co-op is legally personal property (shares of stock and a proprietary lease), not real property.

The New York State Tax Department explicitly requires a Release of Lien for any transfer or sale of a cooperative apartment. Co-op boards and managing agents enforce this rigidly. They will not approve a transfer of shares — including transfers to heirs, sales to third parties, or changes to the proprietary lease — until the lien release documentation is in hand.

This means the Form ET-117 process applies to both houses and co-ops. The key rule: file separate ET-117 forms for properties in different counties, and never combine real property and a co-op on the same ET-117, even if they're in the same county.

Form ET-117: The Release of Lien Request

Form ET-117 (Release of Lien of Estate Tax — Real Property or Cooperative Apartment) is the primary form you file to obtain the lien release. It cannot be filed alone. The ET-117 must be submitted together with one of three underlying tax documents — and which one you use depends on the estate's situation.

Option 1: Form ET-30

Form ET-30 (Application for Release of Estate Tax Lien) is used when:

• You need to sell or transfer the property quickly
• Less than nine months have passed since the date of death
• The executor or administrator has already been formally appointed by the Surrogate's Court (meaning you hold Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration)

ET-30 is the faster path when you're an appointed fiduciary working within the nine-month window. It's typically used when the estate is non-taxable or clearly below the threshold and the executor has their court authority in hand.

Option 2: Form ET-85

Form ET-85 (New York State Estate Tax Certification) is used when:

• The estate is non-taxable (gross estate plus any three-year gift addbacks are below the $7,350,000 exclusion amount)
• More than nine months have passed since the date of death, or
• No fiduciary has been formally appointed by the Surrogate's Court yet — for example, before the probate petition is filed, or in a small estate situation

Unlike ET-30, Form ET-85 requires the filer to list the estimated net estate value and must be notarized before submission. The notarization requirement is absolute — unnotarized ET-85s are rejected.

ET-85 is often the right form when a family is trying to clear the lien before formally opening probate, or when nine months have slipped by because the estate didn't realize the lien existed.

Option 3: Form ET-706

If the estate is taxable — meaning the gross estate exceeds the New York basic exclusion amount ($7,350,000 in 2026) — the executor submits the ET-117 along with the completed Form ET-706 (New York State Estate Tax Return) and the corresponding tax payment.

The lien release in this scenario is processed as part of the overall estate tax filing. The Tax Department will issue the lien release after reviewing the ET-706 and confirming the tax has been paid.

The Federal Lien Complication

If the estate is large enough to require a federal estate tax return — gross estate above $15,000,000 in 2026 — a separate federal estate tax lien under IRC § 6324 also attaches to the property.

To discharge the federal lien, the executor must file IRS Form 4422 (Application for Certificate Discharging Property Subject to Estate Tax Lien) with the IRS. The IRS is notoriously slow with these releases. The IRS commonly requires that net sale proceeds be held in a frozen escrow account until the estate clears a federal audit and receives a formal closing letter. Planning for this delay is essential in large estate sales.

How to File ET-117

Submit the ET-117 along with the appropriate supporting form (ET-30, ET-85, or ET-706) to the:

NYS Department of Taxation and Finance
Estate Tax Unit
W.A. Harriman Campus
Albany, NY 12227

File separate ET-117 forms for each county where the decedent owned property. Do not combine properties across counties. Do not combine real property and co-op apartments even within the same county.

Processing time is typically three to five weeks after the Tax Department receives a complete package. Incomplete submissions (missing signatures, wrong supporting form, missing notarization on ET-85) are returned and restart the clock.

What the Lien Release Looks Like

The Department of Taxation and Finance issues an official Release of Lien letter. For a real estate transaction, your title company will require this document — keep certified copies and bring the original to closing. For a co-op transfer, the managing agent and co-op board will require the release before approving the transfer of shares.

Once the release is issued for a specific property, it covers that property. If the decedent owned multiple properties, you need a separate release for each.

Planning the Timeline

Executors often underestimate how the lien release fits into the overall estate timeline. If you're trying to sell real estate quickly after a death:

• Start the ET-117/ET-30 or ET-117/ET-85 filing as soon as Letters are issued from the Surrogate's Court (allow 3-5 weeks for the release)
• Build the lien release timeline into your listing timeline — don't list without it in hand
• If the estate is near the $7,350,000 threshold, get a professional appraisal immediately to determine whether ET-706 is required, which extends the timeline significantly

The New York Final Tax & Estate Tax Guide covers the full lien release workflow alongside the other post-death tax obligations — including exactly when to file ET-30 versus ET-85, the ET-133 extension process, and how to coordinate the lien release with the Surrogate's Court timeline.

If a property sale is pending and the lien release is holding it up, that's typically your most time-sensitive task.

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