In a will contest probate proceeding, the appellant woman appeals from a decree of the Surrogate’s Court which as granted the motion of the petitioner, Public Administrator of Kings County, for summary judgment dismissing her objections to admit the deceased person’s will dated September 30, 1977, admitted the will to for validation and determined that the will was validly executed. The court ordered that the decree is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs payable personally by the appellant.
The last will and testament purporting to be the will of the deceased man was executed on September 30, 1977, under the supervision of an attorney. New York Probate Lawyers said the will contains a confirmation clause and was subscribed by witnesses whose signatures were notarized. The will devised certain real property located in Brooklyn to one of the deceased man’s three daughters. The man died on November 30, 1977, and his will was filed with the Surrogate’s Court, Kings County, in April 1978. The man died without a valid will in 2000, and the Public Administrator of Kings County was appointed to oversee her estate.
In May 2003, a photocopied document was submitted to the Probate Department of the Surrogate’s Court, Kings County, purporting to be the will of the deceased man. The 2003 instrument provided that the real property was to be divided equally among the deceased man’s three daughters.
In January 2008, the Public Administrator filed a petition to admit the will to probate, and the appellant woman filed objections thereto. In an order dated March 11, 2010, the Surrogate’s Court granted the Public Administrator’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the objections. In a decree dated April 5, 2010, the will was admitted to probate.
The Surrogate’s Court properly awarded summary judgment dismissing the objections and properly admitted the will to probate. Nassau County Probate Lawyers said the Public Administrator established legitimate showing that the will had been on file in the Probate Department of the Surrogate’s Court, Kings County, since 1978. Therefore, it was an ancient document, exempt from the requirements that, when the witnesses to a will are deceased, the handwriting of the person who made the will and at least one witness must be proved. In addition, the will contained a confirmation clause, which is legitimate evidence of proper execution. The will was prepared by an attorney, thereby giving rise to a presumption of proper execution. In opposition, the appellant failed to raise a triable issue of fact. The appellant also failed to raise a triable issue of fact as to the validity of the deceased man’s signature, or to otherwise offer proof in support of her objections. The appellant’s remaining contentions are without merit.
In another probate proceeding in which an action to compel the determination of claims to real property, for dispossession and for a court-ordered prohibition was transferred from the Supreme Court to the Surrogate’s Court, the accused parties appeal from so much of an interlocutory judgment or default judgment of the Surrogate’s Court as, after a nonjury trial, and upon a decision of the same court dated May 19, 2009, determining that a certain deed dated June 6, 2002, is null and void and dismissing their first affirmative defense, and upon a decision of the same court dated October 13, 2009, determining that a certain deed dated May 9, 2001, was not procured through the exercise of undue influence and dismissing their third affirmative defense, is in favor of the complainant and against them determining that the complainant holds in fee simple absolute certain real property as described in the deed dated May 9, 2001. Suffolk County Probate Lawyers said the Surrogate’s Court ordered that the default judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.
Having your name in someone else’s last will measures your importance to the life of that person. If you were given an estate and you want to make sure that everything is in order, consult a Kings County Estate Administration Lawyer and a Kings County Probate Attorney from Stephen Bilkis and Associates.