Brooklyn

Published on: August 2, 2012

Respondent Claims Petitioner Lacks Standing

by Stephen Bilkis

A 19 years old woman was at the hotel located at Staten Island, New York. The said hotel is approximately one half mile from the woman’s residence where she resided with her mother. While at the hotel, the woman made her way to the roof of the hotel where she plunged to her death. Consequently, the woman’s mother’s attorney, who has an office in Staten Island, New York, filed for limited letters testamentary in order to bring an action for a potential wrongful death action.

A New York Probate Lawyer said the complainant mother apparently changed attorneys to one who has offices in Brooklyn and commenced the legal action by filing a summons and complaint with the Kings County clerk’s office. The summons stated that the venue was based on the mother’s residence at Brooklyn however the mother’s verified complaint stated that she was a resident of the County of Richmond. The verified complaint contains allegations of fact in support for a single cause of action for damages due to wrongful death and the woman’s conscious pain and suffering up until her death.

The hotel served an answer to the revised verified complaint that includes thirteen affirmative defenses. A Brooklyn Probate Lawyer said the third affirmative defense states that the mother’s complaint filed in Kings County are at improper venue, and that the place of trial of the action should be changed to a proper venue, a Richmond County. Submitted along with the opponents’ answer was a demand to change venue. When the mother did not respond to the demand to change venue to a proper county, the hotel filed the underlying notice of motion to change venue with the Richmond County clerk’s office.

Published on: July 28, 2012

Court Decides Executor Commission

by Stephen Bilkis

In a probate proceeding case, the decedent died on July 3, 2003, leaving a will dated November 22, 1971. The petitioner-executor was an attorney admitted to practice in this state and drafted the will offered for probate. Thereafter he maintained limited contact with the decedent. A New York Probate Lawyer said that, petitioner has submitted an affidavit in which he states that about 1995 he retired from practice and in early 1996 moved to Virginia but then moved back to Owego, New York, in September 1998. Throughout this period he retained his license to practice law until it lapsed at the end of 2000. Since petitioner is no longer licensed to practice he has retained separate counsel to represent him in his capacity as executor.

Thereafter, SCPA 2307 was enacted effective August 2, 1995 the said statute is applicable to the estates of decedents dying after January 1, 1996. It provides that an attorney-draftsman of a will in which he is named as executor can receive full commissions only if the written disclosure of dual fees required by the statute was executed by the testator. In this case there is no written disclosure from the testator. Alternatively, the statute permits full commissions with respect to wills executed prior to January 1, 1996, if the attorney-executor establishes to the satisfaction of the court reasonable grounds to excuse the absence of a written acknowledgment. A Kings Probate Lawyer said that, in his affidavit submitted herein, petitioner argues that after he retired from practice in 1995, “I was unable to remain knowledgeable of current changes to New York State law, including changes to the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act.” Petitioner’s affidavit does not indicate any attempt to make the required disclosure. Nevertheless, petitioner was licensed to practice as an attorney, both in 1971 when the will was drawn and in 1995 when the law changed.

The issues in this case are whether petitioner-executor is entitled to his full commission, notwithstanding the failure of the testator to make written disclosure of dual fees as required by the statute; and whether the fact that petitioner had retired from the practice of law and has hired separate counsel to represent him as executor of the estate are reasonable grounds to excuse the absence of the written acknowledgement.

Published on: July 27, 2012

Court Decides Sales Tax Question

by Stephen Bilkis

The Facts:

On 20 December 1979, the Audit Division of the State Tax Commission issued a Notice of Determination and Demand for Payment of Sales and Use Taxes Due for the period 1 June 1976 through 31 August 1979. Petitioner filed a petition for revision of that determination and for refund of sales and use taxes under Articles 28 and 29 of the Tax Law.

A New York Probate Lawyer said on 21 November 1985, a hearing was held. On 28 May 1986, a decision was made which modified the Determination but left an amount due of $83,884.58. On 28 May 1986, the Commission notified petitioner of the Decision and advised that petitioner had now exhausted his right of review at the administrative level.

Published on: July 18, 2012

Foreclosure of Home Involved in Probate

by Stephen Bilkis

The plaintiff in this case is Financial Freedom Acquisition. The defendants in the case include Kevin J. Malloy, Esq. who is the guardian ad litem for the unknown distributees, heirs, and next of kin of the deceased, Howard Harris. This includes anyone that is interested in the estate of Howard Harris as the distributee or otherwise.

Orders of the Court

This is a notice of motion and cross motion in regard to the estate of the decedent Howard Harris. There have been papers filed, numbers one through 23 in this case.

Published on: July 15, 2012

Sibling Claims Decedent was a Victim of Undue Influence

by Stephen Bilkis

An 87 year old bachelor died on May 12, 1992. He had an estate that was worth $7,000,000. He left his estate to his sister, his brother and the two children of his brother who died before him. He also named the three children of his sister as his heirs. The sister was the named executor in the bachelor’s will.

She filed a petition for probate but this probate was opposed by the bachelor’s brother and his nephews. During the pendency of the probate proceedings, the sister died and in her own will, she named her son as the executor of her will and the executor of her bachelor brother’s will. The Surrogate Court granted letters testamentary to the nephew of the bachelor.

The crux of the issue in the probate proceedings is the testamentary capacity of the bachelor at the time of the execution of the will and whether or not undue influence was exerted by his sister so that he executed the will which is now being presented for probate.

Published on: July 15, 2012

Court Decides if Letters Testamentary Should be Issued

by Stephen Bilkis

A man who had three children by a first marriage married a woman who had five children of her own. When she married her husband, her husband sold the house he owned and moved into the house of his second wife.

Sometime in Aprill 22, 2009, the man died a month after he executed a will. In this will, he named his daughter by his first marriage and her husband as the executors of his will. The couple was the ones who presented the will for probate. And they also asked the probate court to issue letters testamentary in their favor in accordance with the provisions of the will of their father.

The second wife of the testator objected to the probate of the will on the ground that her husband has had two major strokes and numerous mini strokes all throughout his confinement in a nursing home just prior to his death. He was diagnosed to be suffering from dementia and so he could not have known or understood the contents of the will he purportedly executed.

Published on: July 13, 2012

First Wife Petitions Will

by Stephen Bilkis

A man married a woman sometime on February 11, 1921 while they were residents of New York state. A year later, the man filed a case for annulment of his marriage in King’s County. He claimed that the woman he married falsely represented herself. He court dismissed the petition for annulment of marriage.

Two years later, the wife had to be committed to a mental institution and declared as incompetent. She has been confined in a state mental institution from that time until the death of the man in 1954.

A New York Probate Lawyer said five years after the wife was declared incompetent and was ordered to be confined to a mental institution, the man filed another annulment action before the court. This time, the court granted his petition for annulment. The court’s grant of the annulment was conditioned on the execution of the husband of an undertaking to pay the state institution the sum of $7 weekly for her medical costs. The man never signed an undertaking to foot his ex-wife’s medical bills and the clerk of the court never entered the decision granting him the annulment of marriage he had prayed for.

Published on: July 1, 2012

Court Hears Allegations of Fraud and Undue Infuence

by Stephen Bilkis

A petition for probate was filed. A contestant came forward in the probate proceeding contesting the due execution of the will and contesting as well the testamentary capacity of the testator. The contestant in his objection made general allegations of fraud and undue influence against the proponent of the will.

The proponent of the will then filed a motion for a bill of particulars. He demands that the party contesting the will be made to state specifically the acts or omissions as well as the time, the date, and the place where the specific acts of fraud and undue influence were perpetrated by him against the testator.

The Court is faced with the question of the extent a proponent may require a will contestant to provide specific and particular details of the fraud and undue influence he claims were committed by the proponent.

Published on: June 30, 2012

Will Contest Filed Based on Domocile of Decedent

by Stephen Bilkis

A citizen of the United States and resident of Kings County had lived most of his life in Kings County and has acquired properties and interests there. However, in the last years of his life he has lived in Casablanca in the Northern African French Protectorate of Morocco.

The Surrogate’s Court of Kings County entertained the probate petition but soon a will contestant appeared and filed his objection stating that the testator was already domiciled in Casablanca, Morocco at the time of his death.

The petitioner and the will contestant agreed to reserve the issue of determining the domicile of the testator until after the executor has filed a preliminary accounting/inventory of the properties comprising the estate of the testator.

Published on: June 18, 2012

Court Discusses Non-marital Child Entitlement in Will Contest

by Stephen Bilkis

In a probate proceeding, two non-marital children have moved to have their status as children entitled to benefits under the after-born statute determined. In a prior decision, the court ruled that any question regarding a party’s status in a probate proceeding should be determined as a preliminary matter and stayed all other proceedings.

Rather than question any of the underlying facts, such as proof of paternity, the parties have consented to have the motion submitted assuming the truth of the non-marital children’s allegations for a determination of whether as a matter of law those allegations state a cause of action entitling the claimants to after-born status.

A New York Probate Lawyer said the father of the children died and was survived by eleven children; three from a first marriage, four from a second marriage and the four alleged non-marital children. The will offered for probate benefits only one child from the first marriage, the petitioner and named executor, who inherits the entire estate valued at several million dollars.