New York Probate and Estate Administration Lawyer Blog
Probate Lawyers said that according to a Kings County Estate Attorney a Judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County, dated July 6, 1966, was reversed, with $30 costs and disbursements; plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment granted; and action remanded to the Special Term for the making and entry of an appropriate judgment declaring rights in accordance with the views set forth herein.
A Kings County Probate Lawyer said one Mrs. M died on December 1, 1934 and her last will and testament was duly admitted to probate. The critical provision of the will, with respect to this action for a declaratory judgment, devised her large plot in Greenwood Cemetery to defendant, the Cemetery corporation, with the direction that her remains and those of her late husband be interred there; and further that ‘until the limitation of interments is reached, the remains of my children and my stepchildren and their respective husbands or wives, and their children and their respective husbands or wives, may be interred in the said lot of land, and that interments in the said lot be restricted to the persons so designated.’
A New York Estate Lawyer said that according to a Kings County Estate Lawyer, the Plaintiffs seek to include in the class entitled to burial all descendants and step-descendants and their respective spouses ‘until the limitation of interments is reached.’ Defendant argues that the will limits the class to first and second generation descendants and step-descendants and their respective spouses.
A Kings County Probate Lawyer said that it is undisputed that the plot, consisting of 3,024 square feet, contains a mausoleum, which accommodates 16 crypts, and surrounding land which accommodates 38 grave spaces, each of which can take three interments. Of the total 130 available burial places, only nine are now filled. There are only 21 eligible persons in the class, as limited by defendant.
Manhattan Probate Lawyers said that as explained by a Kings County Estate Attorney, for all practical purposes, that number cannot be enlarged, since the sole surviving child of the testatrix is a 75 year old widow. Thus, 100 burial places will be wasted and unfilled if defendant’s and Special Term’s interpretation be adopted.
A Kings County Will Contest Attorney finds that the testatrix’s plan was to provide a family burial resting place (see Matter of McNeil, 18 A.D.2d 170, 238 N.Y.S.2d 389). Justice and reason require that ‘children’, as used in this instrument, be construed to include all direct line and step-descendants until the limitation of interments is reached.
New York City Probate Lawyers said that according to a Kings County Estate Administration Attorney, the prefatory clause inserted before the definition of the class to be entitled to burial would be stripped of all meaning under the facts and circumstances of this case if the determination at Special Term be upheld. The authorities do not favor such excisional construction of instruments (Matter of Buechner, 226 N.Y. 440, 123 N.E. 741).
A Kings County Will Contest Attorney said that since the testatrix was so generous and liberal in including within the class to be benefited stepchildren and grandchildren and spouses of all children and grandchildren, both direct and step, we believe her plan and intention were not so restrictive and exclusive as to exclude those whom plaintiffs seek to benefit; otherwise, the prefatory clause was surplusage and devoid of all meaning.
When the execution of the last wishes of the testator stated in his or her last will and testament is hampered by other interested person, just like in the case at bar, contact a Kings County Estate Attorney and County Will Contest Attorney at Stephen Bilkis & Associates to help you enforce the proper interpretation of a will.
If you want to probate lost will or a will allegedly written with undue influence exercise upon the testator, our will contest attorneys will handle it for you. In matters of settling a final account of the estate or a trust created under a will, our estate lawyers are expert for the subject matter. Call us at our toll free number or visit our office near you.