May 2009

Earlier today, New York’s  Appellate Division, Second Department published a decision In The Matter Of Astor denying Anthony D. Marshall a stay of discovery in the estate proceedings now underway in Surrogate’s Court. This is significant because Marshall, and his mother’s former attorney Francis   X Morrissey are  defendants in a criminal case where they are accused…

Recently, Long Island was rocked by news of the tragic and shocking murder of  Betty Ann Parente and her two daughters by her husband, Garden City lawyer William Parente who then took his own life in a Maryland hotel. Barely has the community digested the enormity of this crime and the loss of a popular…

New York  generally requires that litigants pay their own counsel fees unlike other states which subscribe to the "loser pays" policy. In keeping with this, the Appellate Division’s Third Department has upheld a ruling from the Warren County Surrogate in In Re Hyde 876 NYS2d196. This case involved a dispute between beneficiaries to a trust. A  judicial accounting had been rendered by the trustees with some beneficiaries approving it and others objecting. The trustees successfully defended their accounting and the beneficiaries who had not objected moved to have the legal expenses incurred in the trustees’ defense assessed against the shares of those beneficiaries who had unsuccessfully objected. The Surrogate denied the motion.Continue Reading Trust Beneficiares Held Not To Be Entitled To Order Directing Costs To Be Paid By Unsuccessful Objectants

With the advent of modern science comes legal issues we never dreamed of in law school (at least if we went to law school in the seventies or earlier!). Witness the decision of the First Department of New York’s Appellate Division in Speranza v. Repro Lab Inc reported at 875 N.Y.S.2d 449. In affirming a decision of New York County Supreme Court Justice Jane Solomon,  it was declared that the administrators of the estate of the plaintiffs’ late son had no right to the semen specimens deposited in the defendant tissue bank  and the administrators would also not be entitled to an injunction against the destruction of the specimens.Continue Reading Court Orders Destruction Of Frozen Semen Specimens

Island Federal Credit Union v. Gerald Smith 875 N.Y.S.2d198 is a somewhat offbeat case which resulted in an interesting decision by the Second Department of the Appellate Division reversing a Suffolk County Supreme Court Decision. The bank was seeking to recover the proceeds of a bank account opened in the name of a probate estate  against the son of the deceased executor. The son was sued both individually and in his capacity as his father’s executor. The bank claimed that the proceeds were paid by mistake to the son .Continue Reading Court Decision Rules That Estate Bank Account Can Not Be Jointly Held With Executor

Leona Helmsley may have been known as the "Queen of Mean" but today’s Wall Street Journal reminds us that she left about five billion dollars to her foundation , The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust which had a mission statement directing that a large portion of these funds be provided to the…

The issue of undue influence was revisited recently by the Appellate Division in the Matter of Thaddeus Klingman 875 N.Y.S. 2d(A.D. 2 Dept 2009). Mr. Klingman learned the terrible news that he was suffering from terminal lung cancer and then proceeded to rescind a separation agreement, change the beneficiary of his life insurance and pension and execute a new will favoring his wife. His son’s objections to the will which were based upon  undue influence and fraud were dismissed upon motion prompting an appeal. The Appellate Division affirmed the Orange County Surrogate ‘s decision.Continue Reading Son’s Attempt To Establish Undue Influence Fails

The Second Department of New York’s Appellate Division has upheld a decision of Suffolk County Surrogate John M. Czygier in the Matter of Norma Anne Rizzi 875 N.Y.S.2d 254 which restates the right of the court to exercise its own discretion in permitting the filing of objections to probate after the time to do so…

The Brooke Astor trial is in full swing in New York County Supreme Court . The range of relevant articles published over the past ten days in the New York Times is so broad that I have simply provided a link to all of the Times stories published since the beginning of the month. The criminal trial of Brooke Astor’s son Anthony Marshall and her former attorney Frank Morrissey for allegedly forging her will and looting her estate truly has something for everyone.Continue Reading The Brooke Astor Trial — Something For Everyone