The following http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/LAWSSEAF.cgi?QUERYTYPE=LAWS+&
[email protected]+&LIST=LAW+&BROWSER=EXPLORER+&TOKEN=41089082+&TARGET=VIEW of the New York State Estates, Powers and Trusts Code may apply:
"§ 5-1.1 Right of election by surviving spouse
...
(b) Inter vivos dispositions treated as testamentary substitutes for
the purpose of election by surviving spouse.
(1) Where a person dies after August thirty-first, nineteen hundred
sixty-six and is survived by a spouse who exercises a right of election
under paragraph (c), the following transactions effected by such
decedent at any time after the date of the marriage and after August
thirty-first, nineteen hundred sixty-six, whether benefiting the
surviving spouse or any other person, shall be treated as testamentary
substitutes and the capital value thereof, as of the decedent's death,
included in the net estate subject to the surviving spouse's elective
right:
(A) Gifts causa mortis.
(B) Money deposited, after August thirty-first, nineteen hundred
sixty-six, together with all dividends credited thereon, in a savings
account in the name of the decedent in trust for another person, with a
banking organization, savings and loan association, foreign banking
corporation or organization or bank or savings and loan association
organized under the laws of the United States, and remaining on deposit
at the date of the decedent's death.
(C) Money deposited, after August thirty-first, nineteen hundred
sixty-six, together with all dividends credited thereon, in the name of
the decedent and another person and payable on death, pursuant to the
terms of the deposit or by operation of law, to the survivor, with a
banking organization, savings and loan association, foreign banking
corporation or organization or bank or savings and loan association
organized under the laws of the United States, and remaining on deposit
at the date of the decedent's death.
(D) Any disposition of property made by the decedent after August
thirty-first, nineteen hundred sixty-six whereby property is held, at
the date of his death, by the decedent and another person as joint
tenants with a right of survivorship or as tenants by the entirety.
(E) Any disposition of property made by the decedent after August
thirty-first, nineteen hundred sixty-six, in trust or otherwise, to the
extent that the decedent at the date of his death retained, either alone
or in conjunction with another person, by the express provisions of the
disposing instrument, a power to revoke such disposition or a power to
consume, invade or dispose of the principal thereof. The provisions of
this paragraph shall not affect the right of any income beneficiary to
the income undistributed or accrued at the date of death.
..."
In other words, the wife may be able to get the funds after the husband's death.