Section 11-1.5. Payment of testamentary dispositions or distributive shares

(a)   Subject   to  his  duty  to  retain  sufficient  assets  to  pay
  administration and reasonable funeral expenses, debts  of  the  decedent
  and  all taxes for which the estate is liable, a personal representative
  may, but, except as directed by will or court decree or order, shall not
  be required to, pay any testamentary disposition or  distributive  share
  before  the  completion of the publication of notice to creditors or, if
  no such notice is published, before the expiration of seven months  from
  the time letters testamentary or of administration are granted.
    (b)  Whenever  a disposition is directed by will to be paid in advance
  of such publication of notice or the  expiration  of  such  seven  month
  period,  the  personal representative may require a bond, conditioned as
  follows:
    (1) That if debts of the decedent appear, and the assets of the estate
  are insufficient to pay them or to pay other  testamentary  dispositions
  entitled,  under 13-1.3, to payment equally with or prior to that of the
  disposition paid in advance, the beneficiary to whom advance payment was
  made will refund it,  or  the  value  thereof,  together  with  interest
  thereon  and  any  costs  incurred  by  reason  of such payment, or such
  ratable portion thereof, as is necessary to pay such debts or to satisfy
  the rights, if any, of other beneficiaries under the will.
    (2) That if the will, under which the disposition was paid, is  denied
  probate, on appeal or otherwise, such beneficiary will refund the entire
  advance  payment,  together  with  interest  and  costs  as described in
  subparagraph (1), to the personal representative entitled thereto.
    (c) If, after the publication of notice to creditors or the expiration
  of seven months from the time letters are granted, as the case  may  be,
  the  personal representative refuses upon demand to pay a disposition or
  distributive  share,  the  person  entitled  thereto  may  maintain   an
  appropriate  action  or proceeding against such representative. But, for
  the purpose of computing the time  limited  for  its  commencement,  the
  cause  of  action  does  not  accrue until the personal representative's
  account is judicially settled.
    (d) In any action or proceeding to compel payment of a disposition  or
  distributive  share, the interest thereon, if any, shall, in the case of
  a disposition, be at the rate fixed in the will or, if none is so fixed,
  in any case at the rate of six percent per annum commencing seven months
  from the time letters, including preliminary or temporary  letters,  are
  granted.
    (e)  Upon  application  by any legatees of the general dispositions on
  notice to the fiduciary, the court,  where  the  delay  in  payment  was
  unreasonable,  may  fix interest in the amount set forth in section five
  thousand four of the civil practice law and rules.