In this case, the United States District Court, N.D. New York considered whether the plaintiff could proceed with a lawsuit against a decedent’s estate. The decedent had lived in New York State for many decades and had even served as the Superintendent of the Division of State Police. However, the…
The proponents of the will are children of the decedent. When they sought to have the decedent’s will admitted to probate, an objection was filed on the grounds that the will had been procured by the proponent’s exerting undue influence over the decedent. Undue influence exists when someone uses their…
In this case the Supreme Court considered whether a wife’s claim for spousal support survives her death and can be continued by her estate. It is not unusual for a divorce proceeding to stretch out over a number of years as the parties are not able to agree on various…
In this case the Appellant Division considered whether a claim against an estate was time barred. The decedent, J. Hollis, died in October 2015. She was survived by six children. The decedent’s will had a specific provision related what should be done if any of her children owed her money…
In a contested probate case, the court considered whether an objectant had standing to participate in the probate proceeding based on a claim of being the child of the decedent. Th decedent died in February of 2018, leaving a substantial estate. A petition to probate a purported will of decedent…
In this case the Surrogate’s Court, Albany County, considered whether an individual had standing to object to probating a will based on having been named as a beneficiary in a prior will pursuant to pursuant to Surr. Ct. Proc. Act § 1410. Before a person can become a party to…
In New York a construction proceeding involves a petitioner asking the Surrogate’s Court to interpret language in a will or trust that is unclear. The language may be open to conflicting interpretations, the language may be inconsistent with other terms of the will, or the language simply might not make…
In this case the Surrogate’s Court considered whether the actions of a person who petitioned the court for letters of administration amounted to dishonesty, making him ineligible under Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act § 707. An executor or estate administrator is the person who is responsible for managing an estate after…
One of the roles of the administrator of the estate is to bring claims on behalf of the estate. In this case, the administrator filed a wrongful death claim on behalf of the estate of his deceased minor daughter. The defendant responded by challenging the administrator’s eligibility to serve as…
Will contests are by nature acrimonious. While some are based on legitimate concerns supported by actual or circumstantial evidence, others are based on long-standing family disputes. However, just because there is family discord does not mean that the objections to a will are not valid. Regardless of the impetus for…