I'm an attorney and practice estate admin in ny.
Here is some info:
You personally don't pay an inheritence tax when you receive your money.
The estate may pay the estate tax (death tax) if the estate's total probate assets are above a certain amount. In NY, the exemption is set at 1 million. Anything above that will be taxed. At the fed level, in 2010, the estate tax is repealed.. (hopefully it stays that way). There is talk of making an estate tax retroactive to 2010, but the exemption would be high.. say 3.5 million.
You just receive money that is left AFTER the estate pays the tax.