Bronx

Published on: March 20, 2012

Court Discussed Enforceability of Swiss Estate Documents

by Stephen Bilkis

An American citizen was domiciled in Switzerland. He died on January 2, 1964. He executed a will in New York on November 6, 1961. In this will, he bequeathed his entire residuary estate to his second wife and directed that his will be submitted for probate in New York and for the laws of New York to govern his estate.

The testator’s first wife appeared as the guardian of his two children and objected in the probate proceedings. She claims that the testator’s property must be disposed of under Swiss law as this is provided for by a treaty between the United States and Switzerland. She claims that under the treaty of 1850, her ex-husband’s personal property must be distributed under Swiss law even if they are found in New York. Under Swiss law, her children will be entitled to shares in the estate as forced heirs.

A New York Probate Lawyer said the Surrogate did not rule on the objection of the first wife but it issued a decree admitting the will into probate and it ordered the executor not to pay or satisfy any distributive share without orders of the Surrogate.

Published on: March 18, 2012

Court Decides Jurisiction Issue Regarding Estate

by Stephen Bilkis

A decedent, who is a resident of Texas and domiciled at Mexico, has possessions in Cayman Islands.

A New York Probate Lawyer said the decedent, while living in New York in 1988, opened an investment account in London. During his lifetime, he deposited over $1,300,000 through a New York bank and his account was handled by an investment manager of the London investment house. The deceased named his marital son as the beneficiary of said investment account.

In 1989, the decedent made an arrangement with a trust officer of another bank to establish a discretionary off-shore trust account in Cayman Islands using the funds from his investment account in London.

Published on: March 14, 2012

Son Contests Mother’s Will

by Stephen Bilkis

A wealthy lady executed a will on February 10, 1992. In this will, she named her husband, a lawyer, to be the executor and principal beneficiary. Her husband was the same lawyer who drafted the will and the attesting witnesses to the will were a couple who were their neighbors and close friends.

In this will as well, the wealthy lady stated that her estate was valued at around $6,000,000. She gave $25,000 to each of her seven grandchildren. She established a trust fund for her husband comprised of credits she expected to receive. She bequeathed the interest earned from the credits she expected to receive to her daughter or to her children if the daughter does not survive her father. She left her residuary estate to her husband. To her son, she left nothing except for the bequest of $25,000 to each of his children. She stated in her will that she left nothing to her son because she had been supporting his children while she was alive and he was sure to receive benefits from the law practice he and his father (the testator’s husband) shared.

After filing the petition, the husband submitted an affidavit prepared by his attorney which contained the facts which the sole surviving attesting witness remembers. A New York Probate Lawyer said the husband also submitted a deposition testimony of the attesting witness as well as his own deposition as the lawyer who prepared his wife’s will. These deposition testimonies were submitted by him to the Surrogate Court to accompany his motion for summary judgment.

Published on: March 11, 2012

Court Determines if Bequest to Lawyer is Allowable

by Stephen Bilkis

An old bachelor in New York died. In his will, he named eleven cousins of his as his distributees. As he had no children of his own, he bequeathed his entire estate to his tax lawyer. The tax lawyer was a resident of New York but he had relocated to the state of Georgia.

Prior to leaving New York, he had been doing the taxes for the old bachelor and they had cultivated a friendship. This friendship lasted for forty years. Even when the tax lawyer was already living in Georgia, he still did the taxes for the New York bachelor and kept in touch with him.

The tax lawyer testified that his friend and client called him up in Georgia to inform him that he was leaving his entire estate to him. The tax lawyer then advised his friend to find a lawyer who will draft the will for him. The old New York bachelor found a lawyer in New York who drafted the will for him. This lawyer has also died. A New York Probate Lawyer reported that the tax lawyer testified that he did not recommend the lawyer to his friend and that he did not personally know the lawyer who drafted the will nor has he had professional dealings with the lawyer who drafted his friend’s will.

Published on: March 7, 2012

Court Determines Authenticity of Will

by Stephen Bilkis

Testator in his lifetime had written a will and testament. Upon his death, nine loved ones who he intended to divide his assets to them outlived him. In the instrument, he named his wife and eight children as heirs of his bounty. The instrument was brought to court for litigation. Estate litigation lawyers represented all parties. It was the surviving spouse who brought the will to court for probate proceeding. Attorneys acting in lieu of decedents children questioned the contested will. They alleged failure of the wife to prove due execution and genuineness of the will. The contents of the instrument displayed fraud, intentional representation of material existing fact, and an outside pressure was used which negate the free will of the testator so that the maker of the will lack the necessary mental capacity in making said instrument valid.

Witnesses to the will in favor of the children testified, that in their control were duplicates of the will and testament. The said instrument was attested in the presence of eligible witnesses and their estate lawyers. They testified that the instrument under which they safe kept was an identical copy of the original will made by the decedent. The instrument then was submitted for examination and was granted by the probate court.

New York Probate Lawyer said the eight children of the decedent, represented by their estate lawyers then filed a motion for summary judgment before the estate administration courts wherein they seek an order denying probate of the supposed last will and testaments submitted by the wife. In support of the motion, affirmations from other witnesses were also forwarded to estate litigation courts such as additional memorandum of law and reply memorandum.

Published on: March 4, 2012

Court Discusses No Contest Clauses in Wills

by Stephen Bilkis

A will executor petitioned in Court to probate the will and the recovery of property alleged asset of the estate. The examinations of the attorney-draftsman, the nominated executor and the attesting witnesses have been completed. Respondents are children of the deceased and grandchildren from a predeceased son.

In support of the motion which seeks a stay of this proceeding pending a construction of the will offered for validation, the petitioners allege that the no-contest clause violates public policy. An issue as to whether a provision of the last will and testament violates public policy must be resolved by construction of the will to determine the person who made the will’s intent and the effect of the provisions on the persons to be influenced. However, the court has no authority to define a will before its admission to validation. That branch of the motion is denied.

The respondents also seek an order permitting the deposition of the nominated successor executor and the attorney-draftsman of a prior will. In opposition, the petitioner argues that respondents are attempting to avoid the no-contest clause by obtaining a court order directing discovery.

Published on: March 1, 2012

Court Decides Case with Multiple Wills

by Stephen Bilkis

A deceased man from Niagara County made five wills all of which have some beneficiaries who are different from Will to Will. The wills are dated March 2, 1993, July 15, 1992, April 24, 1992, March 15, 1989 and September 24, 1987. Two of these Wills have currently been offered for probate. The first Will offered for validation was the third most recently dated Will of April 24, 1992. A decree granting temporary letters of administration was issued on July 28, 1995, appointing the Niagara County Treasurer and Public Administrator, as Temporary Administrator of the state. The Public Administrator was charged with gathering, preserving and protecting the assets and to pay the deceased man’s debts and obligations to prevent the estate from being wasted. Thereafter, on October 25, 1995, the Public Administrator offered the third most recent Will dated April 24, 1992, for validation. The Public Administrator was required to notify everyone named in the two more recent wills as well as the deceased man’s heirs and those listed in the April 24, 1992 will. The return date for the citation on the petition was December 21, 1995. Thereafter, the deceased man’s most recent will dated March 2, 1993, was offered for validation on November 29, 1995. In addition, objections to the validation of the will dated April 24, 1992, were filed on December 6th, 1995. The validation petition filed November 29, 1995, was technically defective and was revised and re-filed on January 8, 1996. A citation has not yet been issued for the said petition given the intervening proceedings. None of the other three wills on file with the court have been offered for validation, nor have any other wills not on file with the Court been offered for validation.

A New York Probate Lawyer said that in a proceeding for the validation of a Will, process must be issued to any person designated as beneficiary, executor, trustee or guardian in any other Will of the same person who made the will filed in the Surrogate’s Court of the County in which the proposed Will is filed, whose rights or interests are adversely affected by the instrument offered for validation.

The attorneys representing the various parties to the properties have suggested that the application of the section is capable of several different results, each of which would require the service of process on different parties given the five Wills of the deceased which are on file with the Court. The narrowest suggested application would require service only upon those interested parties in the Will being offered for validation and the next most recent Will. The broadest suggested application would require service of process upon all interested parties in all five Wills on file with the Court. Based upon the facts set forth above, the Court believes that neither proposed application of the section is correct.

Published on: February 21, 2012

Beneficiaries Claim Estate Administrator is Dishonest

by Stephen Bilkis

According to reports from a surrogate’s court, a decedent was survived by his wife, and two children from a previous marriage. In his last will and testament, he had chosen his wife to act as estate administrator. Upon his death, the will was submitted to probate court. The court named the wife as the estate administrator in the letter of testamentary.

Before the decedent’s death and months after the wife was accorded as estate administrator, she exercised her functions. It was asserted to be true that she made several transactions which resulted to lessen the funds of the contested estate. The wife have made repeated fund transfers from an alleged joint account to her own account; paid her personal bills and expenses thru multiple on-line transfers from decedent’s personal accounts in a certain bank; and checks payable to her decedent’s husband were signed, endorsed and deposited to her account.

A New York Probate Lawyer said that the decedent’s children, with the help of their probate lawyers filed a case contesting the earlier decision of the court in naming the wife as the appointed executor. They reasoned out that she was unfit to carry out the terms of the contested will by virtue of dishonesty, by not providing their needs, by shallow understanding of good will and by thoughtlessly or carelessly expending of their funds. They asked the court to appoint decedent’s son as the executor instead of the wife. They submitted to the court a written document of the decedent’s therapist. The therapist testified under oath and sustained the allegations of the decedent’s children. The estate litigation lawyers further make clear that the case under litigation was not a subject for time consuming dispute. Children’s funds were at stake. The wife was guilty of a series of acts-any one of which, the court has the authority to give an order to remove the wife as executor in an earliest time.

Published on: February 17, 2012

Court Rules on Probate Issue

by Stephen Bilkis

The appellants of a probate case have filed for an objection against the original ruling of probate by the court. The court did not accept the objections of the appellants.

According to the objections of the appellants, they asserted that the surrogate court should have used its authority to decide on the matter of estate’s original probate due to the fact that another court already had previous jurisdiction over it. The appellants further argue that the original order for probate had already been settled in a foreign country. Such foreign proceeding was concluded by the court as possibly replicated in the city.

The decedent’s will was executed in the city in which the decedent, also known as the testator, has lived. That will and testament revokes all the previous wills that have been written by the testator. The will contains instructions on the funeral expenses and debt payments. The remaining assets after the previous expenses are deducted shall be awarded to the former wife of the testator and another party. The male respondent of this court proceeding was identified as the executor of the will.

Published on: February 13, 2012

Court Rules on Complex Probate Matter

by Stephen Bilkis

The guardian of the decedent’s estate has filed for a petition and requested the court to allow the probate of the alleged will. The petition also contained that a fee should be established by the court.

The testator of the will and testament has passed away. He left his wife and 3 children his estate. The widow was named the guardian as stated in the decedent’s will. The widow at that time is afflicted with dementia. The two older sons of the testator were also named as co-guardians for their mother.

The two sons requested a probate of a specific will. A few months later, they filed another probate on another will and requested that the previous motion be denied by the court.