The Fourth Department of  New York’s Appellate Division has expanded the rights of nonmarital children to inherit. In the Matter of Uhl,628 a Surrogate’s Court had earlier determined that Lora Elkins and Sally Himelsbach were not entitled to inherit a portion of their cousin’s estate after she died intestate in 2003 leaving six cousins. The lower court found that four of the decedent’s cousins on the decedent’s father’s side were able to establish their rights as distributees but that Ms. Elkins and Ms. Himelsbach were ineligible to do so because they had been unable to prove their parents had been married at the time of their births.

Under existing law at the time their father died in 1953, the sisters would have been precluded from inheriting from their father or his "kindred". Their father was the decedent’s maternal grandfather, thereby placing them as cousins on the decedent’s mother’s side .Continue Reading Appellate Ruling Expands Inheritance Rights of Nonmarital Children

A decision of Nassau County Surrogate John Riordan in Estate of Grace De Lutri 324441 recently published on June 22 in the New York Law Journal determined that a decedent’s 1982 will was revoked by the express terms and operation of law of her subsequent 1989 will. 
Continue Reading Express Terms of Subsequent Will Found to Revoke an Earlier Will

A New York State Supreme Court decision in Rivers v. Genesis Holding LLC 812 N.Y.S. 2d 301 is a powerful reminder about the perils of settling a case involving an estate before all the “t” s are crossed and all the “i” s are dotted. This negligence action settled for only $7,500 in New York County (Manhattan) . Plaintiff died after commencing the action to recover for injuries she suffered in a slip and fall. After her administratrix was substituted , attorneys for the parties agreed on a settlement subject to the Surrogate’s Courts approval. This settlement was made in open court and was marked “settled” on the court system’s computer.
Continue Reading State Supreme Court Settlement Conditioned On Surrogate’s Approval Unravels

When Paul P.K. Huang died on August 19, 2004 as a resident of Manhattan, no fewer than eight wills surfaced! On motion of the petitioner, seven of these wills were denied probate even though all of them were dated subsequent to the will offered for probate which was dated October 7, 1998.
Continue Reading Will’s Revocation Fails to Revive Prior Revoked Wills

Nassau County New York Surrogate John Riordan’s decision in Matter of Biondo (New York Law Journal, April 6th , 2006 reported at page 20) provides an excellent explanation and application of the doctrine of cy pres (pronounced “sigh-pray”). Originally part of our common law, cy pres is one of those concepts taught in law school which (like the joke about the roof) generally passes right over the head of the average law student and continues right into oblivion until some future point where it has to be relearned.
Continue Reading Cy Pres Doctrine Determines Disposition of Funds Directed to Dissolved Charity

April 18th’s New York Law Journal features a decision by Richmond County (Staten Island) Surrogate John A. Fusco holding that the estate of a deceased husband who had shot his wife to death would be barred from inheriting her portion of the couple’s home even though he had not been actually adjudicated as a murderer.
Continue Reading Absence of Murder Verdict Does Not Relieve Husband of Responsibility for Slaying Wife

The Third Department of New York’s Supreme Court Appellate Division has handed down an interesting opinion on testamentary capacity. In the Matter of the Estate of Albert L. Friedman, reported at 809 N.Y.S. 2d 667(A.D. 3 Dept 2006), it was established that the decedent was diagnosed with progressive dementia.
Continue Reading Appellate Court Holds Dementia not Conclusive Proof of Lack of Testamentary Capcity

New York’s Appellate Division has reversed the Suffolk County Surrogate’s decision to dismiss a petition brought to vacate an earlier decree which had admitted a will to probate upon the claim of undue influence. The will which was executed in 2002 left the decedent’s entire estate to his third wife . This marked a complete reversal of the testamentary intent of the decedent as it had been set out in a will drawn nine years earlier which had left his estate not only to his then second wife but also to various members of his extended family.
Continue Reading Appellate Court Holds that Petitioner Seeking to Vacate Admission of Will to Probate Was Entitled to a Hearing