This week’s entry, written by Jaclene D’Agostino, discusses a recent New York County Supreme Court decision dismissing a widow’s legal malpractice claim against her husband’s estate planning attorneys. The rationale: lack of privity, despite the fact that the defendant attorneys also represented the widow in her own estate plans, and jointly with her husband in other matters.
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2009
Unsealing Adoption Records
By Robert M. Harper on
Posted in Articles
Although adoption records generally remain sealed except for applications in connection with medical purposes, courts will occasionally allow such records to be unsealed for other reasons. This week’s entry discusses one of the rare cases in which an application was granted absent any medical objective.
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Ask not what your Trustees can do for you…
By Eric W. Penzer on
Posted in Trusts
This week’s entry discusses a recent decision from the Southern District of New York in which the plaintiff asserted he was the son of John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, and sought to compel distributions from the late president’s testamentary trust. Especially relevant to the trusts and estates litigator is the discussion of the probate exception to federal diversity jurisdiction.
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Amendments to Simultaneous Death Statute, EPTL 2-1.6
By Jaclene L. D'Agostino on
Posted in Construction of Wills and Trusts
This week’s post discusses amendments to EPTL 2-1.6, the statute pertaining to the disposition of assets in circumstances of apparent simultaneous deaths.
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Probate of a Lost Will
By Jaclene L. D'Agostino on
Posted in Probate
This week’s entry discusses the requirements to probate a will when the original instrument has been lost.
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The Due Execution of Wills
By Ilene S. Cooper on
Posted in Probate
To be admitted to probate, a will must be duly executed in accordance with statute. In this week’s blog entry, Ilene Cooper discusses how courts have applied and interpreted the due execution requirements.
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Discovery in Probate Contests
By Robert M. Harper on
Posted in Probate
Discovery in probate contests is generally limited to a specific time frame. This week’s entry discusses the governing rule, and situations in which it may be expanded.
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Beneficiary Participation Irrelevant to Allocation of Trustees’ Litigation Costs
By Jaclene L. D'Agostino on
Posted in Fiduciaries
Legal fees incurred by fiduciaries in connection wtih their stewardship are generally chargeable to a trust or estate as a whole. This week’s blog entry discusses a recent case in which non-objecting beneficiaries sought to allocate trustees’ litigation costs solely to the objecting parties’ interests.
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Court Rejects Executor’s Attempt to Sell House To Herself For $10
By Eric W. Penzer on
Posted in Fiduciaries
This week’s entry discusses a recent decision rejecting an executor’s attempt to “sell” the decedent’s house to herself for the price of $10.
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A Matter of Faith: Conditioning Bequests on Religious Observance and Marriage
By Robert M. Harper on
Posted in Construction of Wills and Trusts
This week’s entry contemplates whether bequests conditioned on religious observance are enforceable in contemporary times.
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