N.Y. Real Property Actions & Proceedings Law § 1121

§ 1121. Commission to be issued if life tenant is without the state.\nIf before or at the time of the presentation of the referee's report to\nthe court, or, where a referee is not appointed, at any time before the\nfinal order is made, the party upon whom the petition and notice are\nserved presents to the court presumptive proof, by affidavit, that the\nperson whose death was in question is, or lately was, at a place certain\nwithout the state, the court must make an order requiring the petitioner\nto take out a commission, directed to one or more persons residing at or\nnear that place, either designated in the order or to be appointed upon\na subsequent application for the commission, for the purpose of\nobtaining a view of the person whose death is in question and of taking\nsuch testimony respecting his identity as the parties produce. The order\nmust also direct that the proceedings upon the petition be stayed until\nthe return of the commission and that the petition be dismissed, with\ncosts, unless the petitioner takes out the commission within a time\nspecified in the order, and diligently procures it to be executed and\nreturned at his own expense.\n