A decedent may create a trust during his or her lifetime. What happens after the decedent dies? Does the Surrogate’s Court have jurisdiction to compel a trustee to account to a beneficiary or determine other matters relating to the trust? SCPA § 207 provides two separate grounds upon which the Surrogate’s Court may […]
There are several grounds to object to the estate paying the fiduciary’s legal fees. One of the most basic objections is to challenge the reasonableness and necessity of the legal services performed (see Matter of Bradley, 128 Misc 2d 240, 241 [Sur Ct, Nassau County 1985] [reducing the attorney’s fee because “some of the work […]
SCPA Article 21 provides a procedural vehicle for the Estate to recover assets wrongfully obtained from a decedent. The Estate’s fiduciary may file a petition under these provisions to identify and recover estate assets held by a third party. “The fiduciary bears the burden to prove that property held by a respondent is an estate […]
When representing clients looking to challenge a will, we like to take full advantage of pre-objection discovery. It is particularly helpful to review as much information about the decedent as possible prior to conducting the SCPA 1404 examination. We like to request and review the following types of documents: Drafting Attorney’s Case File. The best […]
We received a call one day from two brothers complaining of their sister. Their father had a long term, prior estate plan providing for his children equally. Right before his death, the plan changed, and their father cut them down and provided a much larger portion of his estate to their sister. Around the time […]
“We don’t pay taxes, only the little people pay taxes.” Leona Helmsley This is what Leona Helmsley’s summer house keeper testified that Mrs. Helmsley had previously said, during a 1989 tax evasion trial that resulted in Mrs. Helmsley serving 19 months in jail. At trial, her own lawyer described her as a “tough bitch”. Leona […]