N.Y. Real Prop. Acts. Law § 1124
The commissioner or commissioners possess the same powers, and must proceed in the same manner, as a referee, appointed by an order requiring the production of the tenant for life, or proof of his existence; except that they cannot proceed unless a person is produced before them, as being the person whose death is in question. The return to the commission must expressly state whether any person was or was not so produced. The testimony respecting the identity of a person so produced must be taken, unless otherwise specially directed by the court, as prescribed by law, for taking the deposition of a witness upon oral interrogatories except that it is not necessary to give any other notice of the time and place of examination than that prescribed in section 1123.
N.Y. Real Prop. Acts. Law § 1124