I agree with NE.

From my past experience, in this scenario, the Mother.

www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/intestate-succession-new-york.html

I would guess - but inheritance laws are strange, especially in NY - that if the mother rejects the inheritance, it goes to next in line after $$$$$$ in legal fees to make that happen.

If the mother accepts the inheritance and it is substantial she can't just turn it over to GF because of gift taxes, but she COULD will it to the GF herself.

Each State has a line of succession. It goes like this: Parents and Siblings on the same level. Unmarried Spouse has rights to 1/2 of the estate, unless contested.

I had my best friend die at 58, 10 years ago. He was married to his first wife, he was her third husband. After they got married, her adviser said, "WTF? You have to protect your assets so if you die first, your kids get everything"!

So the went to her attorney for a Post Nuptial Agreement. The attorney said that this was a working women with 2 X-husbands and asset gotten thru her two divorces. Therefore everything she has now, will go to her three adult kids. And her new husband gets NOTHING! He was okay with that.

So the attorney has the wife disclose her net assets. She said with the equity in her home, retirement and x-husbands settlements, she is worth $900,000. Okay my friend says, not an issue.

The wife's attorney says we have to put down your net worth. He said I'm not exactly sure, it goes like this: a) I have personally with my house, bonds, stock and cash, around 6 or 7 million dollars. My construction company I'm selling, an installment sale, for $5 million.

And my parents only have me and my sister as children. They are in bath health, survivors of the WW2. They are pushing 80 years of age and have 22 apartment buildings worth around $40,000,000. So in around 5 to 10 years, I will inherit around $20,000,000. Add that to my net worth, I will be worth over $30,000,000 million dollars.

The wife's attorney said to the wife, "you are an idiot! This $30M is going to be protected and go to his sister instead of being spited between you and her. So the husband died around 4 years later. The wife was given a token amount, nothing to sing about. But I was called upon the courts to decide two assets.

"could the mother say i dont want it and sign it over to the girlfriend"

That depends on the judge. State law dictates the order of inheritance that the judge will use to determine who gets it. The judge has full discretion on disposition though, so if for example, mom is in a nursing home being paid by the state, he could force her to take it and turn it over to the state for reimbursement of her living expenses.

The rule I've read mostly is first inheritances go "up or down" (i.e. children first... then mother and/or father), and after that they go "side to side" (i.e. siblings), and then after that outside (i.e. nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, etc).

And if all else fails, it goes to the state's unclaimed property division in case a claimant shows up later.

So in this case... mother first, then siblings, then children of siblings.

Curious what situation brings this up?