In New York, the Surrogate’s Court system has jurisdiction over estate matters. There are Surrogate’s Courts in each county in New York. The proper venue for an estate proceeding is determined by where the decedent was domiciled at the time of their death. Domicile refers to the location where a…
Ademption occurs when property bequeathed under a will is no longer in the testator’s estate at the time of the testator’s death. In the case of In re Fitzsimmons, the court had to considered whether property that was wrongfully transferred from an estate prior to a testator’s death, but subsequently…
In this case the Surrogate’s Court was asked to determine the proper valuation of an asset that was part of a decedent’s estate for purposes of determining the amount tax owed to New York State. The executor of the estate, Sylvester Cleary, paid the amount that the Department of Taxation…
If a testator left a will, generally they would have indicated in the will who they want to serve as the executor of the estate. The executor, also referred to as the personal representative, serves a fiduciary and is charged with the job of settling the affairs of the decedent’s…
Typically, the court will honor a testator’s choice of executor unless that person is determined to be ineligible. In the case of In re Lublin, the Surrogate’s Court was asked to consider another reason to circumvent the wish of a testator as memorialized in their will. In the case of…
In In re the Estate of Cridland, the administratrix of the estate, the decedent’s sister, sought to remove the restrictions from her limited letters of administration so that she could collect settlement proceeds from an action related to the death of the decedent, allocate the entire recovery to the personal…
The purpose of a last will and testament is to allow the testator to leave instructions as to what is to happened to their property once the pass away. It’s important for a will to be will-written as clear. Since when it is time to follow the instructions in the…
A will, when properly executed, is a legally enforceable document in which the testator gives instructions as to what is to happen to their property after their death. In this will contest case the Surrogate’s Court has was asked to determine whether a document signed by the decedent was in…
If a New York will contains language that is vague or subject to multiple interpretations, interested parties can initiate probate litigation to request that the Surrogate’s Court determine how the ambiguous language in the will should be construed. This type of litigation is called a “construction action.” The purpose of…
In this case, the Surrogate’s Court was asked to determine the applicability of the Loft Law in a case where a landlord sought to recover back rent and where the decedent’s estate sought to recover the value of fixtures added to the premises by the decedent. Under New York law,…