Queens

Published on: May 25, 2012

Court Concludes Petitioner Has No Jurisidiction Over Will

by Stephen Bilkis

This case is being heard in the Surrogate’s Court of New York County. The case is regarding the estate of Marvin G. Connally. The executors of the estate are George H. Ryniker & Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York. The others involved in this case are Jean M. Denis, and Donald T. Mullane who is acting as the special guardian for Mary S. Hicks and the others who are infants.

Case Background

A New York Probate Lawyer said the testator died on the 26th of December in 1960. On the 9th of January a petition for probate was filed in this court. This included two testamentary instruments. The petition stated that the testator lived at 475 Park Avenue in New York City. It also stated that the distributees were his three children.

Published on: May 21, 2012

Court Discusses HUD Rules

by Stephen Bilkis

On March 29, 2010, a building owner from 1165 Evergreen Avenue in the Bronx, New York filed a motion to evict the resident of one of their apartments. A New York Probate Lawyer said the property owner claims that the person who leased an apartment from them has failed to pay her rent from April 2006 until March 2010. Apparently the leaser had been making only partial payments and at the time of the motion, the renter was $1183.94 behind on their rent. When the property owner filed the motion they also stated that the rent had been $25.00 short each month during the time listed. The property owner stated that if the amount was not paid by April of 2010, that the amount would need to be raised to $1418.94 which would include the late rent and $210.00 for legal fees.

The court set a hearing date, however the renter did not appear for that hearing. The property owner filed a motion for summary judgment. The court decided to review the litigation history between the parties and discovered that there had been four other cases filed between these two parties during the time span going back to 2006 which is also covered by this particular petition. A Staten Island Probate Lawyer said the court determined that the renter would only be behind in rent that was left unpaid through May of 2010 of $375.00. The court decided not to issue an eviction notice for five days so that the renter could have time to pay the amount determined by the court. On May 26, 2010, the renter applied for an order to show cause to cancel the default judgment.

The renter filed three more motions trying to keep from being evicted from the apartment. On August 11, 2010, the renter applied for an additional order and supported the approval of the original $1308.94. The court granted the motion on August 25, 2010. Both parties at that time agreed that the renter owed the property owner $1308.94. That amount would cover any amount that was not paid to the property owner through August.

Published on: May 6, 2012

Court Hears Case Brought By Third Party Defendant

by Stephen Bilkis

The plaintiff in this case is Robinson Duran Urena. The defendant and third party plaintiff/respondent in the case is Ciampa Estates, LLC. They are represented by the law offices of Fiorella Rubin & Friedman LLP. His council in the case is Stewart B. Greenspan. The third -party defendant-appellant in the case is Sanita Construction Company, Inc. They are represented by John Bonanno from Weiner, Morgan, Millo & Bonanno, LLC.

A New York Probate Lawyer said the case is being heard in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division. The judges in the case are Sheri S. Roman, JJ, Ariel E. Belen, Daniel D. Angiolillo, and Reinaldo E. Rivera, J.P.

Appeal

Published on: May 1, 2012

Plaintiff Injured at Construction Site

by Stephen Bilkis

In this case, Michael J. Spence was the plaintiff. The defendants were the Island Estates at Mt. Sinai II, LLC, Gessin Contracting Co., Inc., and Island Estates. Island Estates at Mt. Sinai II and Gessin Contracting were also third-party plaintiffs while Lakeville Industries was listed as a third-party defendant.

History

A New York Probate Lawyer said the primary plaintiff in this case, Michael J. Spence was injured in 2005 when making a delivery of a countertop to a property at the Mount Sinai Island Estates. In the course of the delivery, a rut in the ground caused him to trip, resulting in an injury. Lakeville Industries was the employer of Spence at the time. There are other complaints, separate from this which alleges negligence and violation of labor laws against Lakeville and the third-party complaint accuses Lakeville of negligence and breach of contract, among other things related to improperly protecting and insuring their employees.

Published on: April 30, 2012

Court Validates a Will

by Stephen Bilkis

A man filed a motion to withdraw a waiver and consent he did for the legal validation of his cousins will. And, this motion is opposed by the primary representative of the estate and the four charities who are the beneficiaries under certain instruction.

This happened five months after the death of his cousin, he did a waiver and consent; however, an attorney appeared for him a month after, and this is also the return date of the citation in this proceeding, and indicated that he wanted to withdraw his consent for the legal processing of validation of the will. The assets consists of personal property valued more than a million.

The instruction was done when his cousin was about 95 years old. The single page, two-sided tool is a downloadable legal form and does not appear to be attorney supervised. The opposite side of the form shows his shaky and weak signature, and the signature of the two witnesses. One of those witnesses now serves as a primary person appointed to perform the will and formerly served as one of legal guardians. Apparently, the other witness was an aide at the facility where she resided at the time she signed the instruction.

Published on: April 28, 2012

Court Discusses Estate Taxes

by Stephen Bilkis

This case involves the estate of Mr. Frank Wolf. The petitioner is the administrator of the estate, Betsy Wolf. Ethel Wolf is the respondent.

The Estate

A New York Probate Lawyer said the case involves the will of Mr. Wolf. Most of his property was left to his mother, while nothing appeared allocated for his wife. There was also no mention of estate taxes.

Published on: April 26, 2012

Court Rules on Validity of Multiple Wills

by Stephen Bilkis

A woman has petitioned the court to vacate the probate of a will of a deceased person whom she is not related to and to permit her to file objections to the validation. The deceased man’s will was admitted to validation by the court and the estate was distributed in April, 2006.

According to records, answers and objections to her petition were filed by the executor, a grandson of the decedent, and two other grandchildren. Following a conference with the court, the parties attempted to reach a settlement, but were unsuccessful. A New York Probate Lawyer said that thereafter the matter was submitted to the court for a decision on the papers, including a reply and an additional affidavit in support of the petition.

The Petitioner raises several arguments in support of the relief requested. Primarily that she is in possession of a later will, in which she is named executor and a beneficiary. She states that she was neither cited nor waived citation in the proceeding which granted validation to the 1992 will, and that she intends to file objections to the validation based on the later will. She also alleges that the deceased, who died while an inpatient at a nursing home in New Jersey, was a resident of Manhattan, and not of Rockland County as alleged in the petition which resulted in the validation decree, and that, therefore, the proceeding should not have been brought in this court. The Petitioner filed the purported will in this court and filed her petition to vacate validation. The respondents, by their answer and objections, allege that the petition should be denied because the petitioner is guilty of laches, based on her unexplained and unjustified delay in offering the purported later will for validation and in bringing the instant proceeding, which will result in substantial prejudice to them if she is successful. They further argue that petitioner is unable to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits, because the 2001 purported will is not likely to be admitted to validation. They maintain that the 2001 document is suspicious on its face, that the deceased lacked sufficient capacity to execute a will in 2001 and that the 2001 document was the product of undue influence.

Published on: April 23, 2012

Court Decides Will Contest

by Stephen Bilkis

The petitioners of this probate case wanted to withdraw their petition and requested the court to issue letters of administration. The petitioners wanted to abandon their action placing on probate the alleged copy of the last will and testament.

According to the last will and testament of the decedent, the remaining estate will go to her sisters. The decedent named one sister as the executor of the will while the other one was named as the successor. The said executor had predeceased the testator and no issue was raised. The whole estate was passed on to the successor of the will which was also the other successor.

The successor had filed a petition for a guardian to be appointed for her property. Since the court has found that the successor cannot to be relied on managing her own properties, a guardian was appointed. A New York Probate Lawyer said the petitioners of the case were the appointed guardians.

Published on: April 22, 2012

Children Sue Stepmother for Mishandling Estate

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. A New York Probate Lawyer said 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.

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. Queens Probate Lawyers said 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: April 20, 2012

Will is Contested Based on Lack of Capacity of Decedent

by Stephen Bilkis

An 87 year old deceased rich man who was never married and had no children had invested wisely and left a non-specific estate of over $7,000,000. His latest will executed left his residuary estate in equal shares to his sister, his brother, two children of his predeceased brother and his sister’s three children — the eldest son, the younger son and a daughter. His sister was named as executor however she died before her brother. His sister’s younger son is the successor executor. His nephew filed a petition to validate the 1988 will and was appointed as preliminary executor. Objections were filed by the deceased man’s brother and the two children of his predeceased brother. The objections alleged lack of authority capacity, fraud and undue influence.

In January, 1989, he was taken to a clinic after becoming dizzy and falling. In April, 1989, he had a stroke. He was seen by the doctors at his clinic, who documented the deterioration of his mental condition. In January, 1990, he established a trust for his sister and her children and ultimately transferred over $1,500,000 to it. In December, 1990, he was found wandering in the Bus Terminal. The nephew arrived at the terminal and returned his uncle to his apartment. However, he was soon discovered walking outside his apartment in his underwear. he police took him to a hospital, where tests showed organic brain syndrome of the Alzheimer’s type. He was placed in the Nursing Home for Adults, an adult care facility. Queens Probate Lawyers said he was hospitalized again where he was diagnosed as having advanced dementia and atrophy of the brain. He was discharged to an adult health care center. The other nephew brought a proceeding to be appointed his uncle’s conservator. He and another uncle were appointed as co-conservators. The rich man’s brother arranged for his brother to be transferred to a facility in California, where he died a few days later.

The objections to probate were tried before the Surrogate in a non-jury trial. The trial lasted nine days and was vigorously challenged. Based on the record, the Court found that the deceased rich man lacked the ability to execute a will in 1988. It further found that he was susceptible to undue influence due to his weakened physical condition, that his sister’s relationship with him was motivated by her interest in his money. It is further found that there was a confidential relationship between him and his sister created by her control over his finances. Critical to the finding that his sister had actually exercised undue influence over him in the will contest were the findings made by the Court that prior to 1986, he had given only small gifts to family members but that after his sister began to exert influence over him, he transferred almost $2,000,000 to trusts for the benefit of her children and that she signed checks to each of her children from an account he established. The nephew does not dispute receiving the money, but argues that he had no knowledge of any impropriety.