N.Y. Real Property Actions & Proceedings Law § 1121: Commission to be issued if life tenant is without the state

§ 1121. Commission to be issued if life tenant is without the state.

If before or at the time of the presentation of the referee's report to

the court, or, where a referee is not appointed, at any time before the

final order is made, the party upon whom the petition and notice are

served presents to the court presumptive proof, by affidavit, that the

person whose death was in question is, or lately was, at a place certain

without the state, the court must make an order requiring the petitioner

to take out a commission, directed to one or more persons residing at or

near that place, either designated in the order or to be appointed upon

a subsequent application for the commission, for the purpose of

obtaining a view of the person whose death is in question and of taking

such testimony respecting his identity as the parties produce. The order

must also direct that the proceedings upon the petition be stayed until

the return of the commission and that the petition be dismissed, with

costs, unless the petitioner takes out the commission within a time

specified in the order, and diligently procures it to be executed and

returned at his own expense.