Nick Reiner stands accused, but not convicted, of killing his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner (Carly Thomas, “Nick Reiner Blocked from Trust Fund Due to ‘Slayer Statute’ Amid Charges for Parents’ Murder”, The Hollywood Reporter, [last viewed on August 23, 2026]). He has requested access to funds contained in a trust that his
In New York, Are a Decedent’s Survivors Entitled to See the Decedent’s Electronic Communications After the Decedent Dies?
After a person passes away, a decedent’s survivors oftentimes attempt to access the decedent’s electronic communications. Whether motivated by mere curiosity or a desire to better understand the circumstances that led to a decedent’s death, decedents’ survivors have not had much success in accessing the content of decedents’ electronic communications since New York enacted digital
Is An Unrecorded Document Called a “Survivorship Deed” That Predates New York’s Transfer-On-Death Deed Legislation Enforceable?
In 2024, the New York Legislature enacted Real Property Law (“RPL”) § 424, which codified New York’s public policy in favor of transfer-on-death deeds that provide for real property to pass to beneficiaries named therein upon property owners’ deaths (RPL § 424). More recently, in Matter of Cruz (Birks), 87 Misc3d 1229(A)
New York Trusts and Estates Legislative Developments of Which to be Aware in 2026 and Beyond
Last year, the New York Legislature (the “Legislature”) enacted, and Governor Kathy Hochul signed, into law several pieces of legislation that are likely to significantly impact trusts and estates practice in 2026 and beyond. The legislation in question concerns (a) electronic wills, and (b) service of process in Surrogate’s Court proceedings. I write to provide
Remainder Beneficiaries of a Revocable Trust May Lack Standing to Seek a Trust Accounting for the Period Prior to the Grantor’s Death
When representing fiduciaries in litigation that estate and trust beneficiaries commence, my Farrell Fritz, P.C. colleagues and I seek to limit the fiduciaries’ exposure to liability. One way to accomplish that objective is to narrow the period for which beneficiaries have standing to compel fiduciaries to account. In Yonke v. D’Angelo, New York County
Constructive Trust Claims
Constructive trust claims regularly arise in trusts and estates litigation. Based upon a recent decision that Suffolk County Surrogate Vincent J. Messina, Jr. issued, in which the Surrogate found that a constructive trust should be imposed on certain assets, I write to provide a short summary of the law that governs constructive trust claims, and
Undue Influence Objections in Will Contests
When a petitioner offers a will for probate, and the propounded instrument’s validity is contested, objectants oftentimes raise undue influence as an objection to the admission of the will to probate. By alleging undue influence, an objectant essentially contends that the propounded will resulted from another person’s influence on the testator, and, therefore, reflects the
Will New York Law Allow for the Electronic Execution of Wills?
Under New York’s Electronic Signatures and Records Act, a person can electronically sign many types of documents that have legal significance (Technology Law §§ 301, § 304 |– 306). At the present time, however, wills and trusts are not among them (Technology Law § 307[1]). A legislative proposal that
The Presumption of Revocation that Oftentimes Applies to Lost Wills
New York law generally requires that, to have a will admitted to probate, a party offering the will for probate must file the original instrument with the Surrogate’s Court (Margaret V. Turano, Practice Commentaries: SCPA § 1407 [McKinney’s]). When an original will is lost, Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (“SCPA”) § 1407 sets forth the requirements
Does Counsel Have a Duty to Disclose to a Surrogate’s Court the Fact That Hearing Evidence That Counsel Proffers Has Been Generated by Artificial Intelligence?
On February 14, 2025, I will be speaking at the Suffolk Academy of Law’s annual Elder Law Update, addressing current developments in artificial intelligence (“AI”) that are relevant to trusts and estates practice, among other topics. In preparing for that presentation, I came across a recent Surrogate’s Court, Saratoga County, decision in Matter of Weber, in which the court found that a party’s counsel has a duty to disclose to the court the fact that the party’s hearing evidence has been generated by AI. I now address the Weber court’s AI-based findings below.
AI has been “defined as being any technology that uses machine learning, natural language processing, or any other computational mechanism to simulate human intelligence, including document generation, evidence creation or analysis, and legal research, and/or the capability of computer systems or algorithms to imitate intelligent human behavior” (Matter of Weber, 220 NYS3d 620, 635 [Sur Ct, Saratoga County 2024]). It “can be either generative or assistive in nature” (id.). Generative AI is “artificial intelligence that is capable of generating new content (such as images or text) in response to a submitted prompt (such as a query) by learning from a large reference database of examples” (id.). AI “assistive materials are any document or evidence prepared with the assistance of AI technologies, but not solely generated thereby” (id.).
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