It is a rare day that the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest Court, deals with trust and estate matters, let alone something as granular as the validity of an in terrorem clause. But speaketh they did, on April 17,
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
When reforming a will or trust, the Surrogate’s Court “changes the language of the will [or trust instrument] itself by the addition or deletion of words in an attempt to conform [the instrument] to the decedent’s intent” (Matter of Stahle,
A power of attorney (“POA”) allows a principal to assign their agent authority to make certain legal and financial decisions on their behalf. Because a POA can give an agent tremendous power over the principal’s affairs, claims of elder abuse
Suppose that a loved one has been missing for years, for no reason at all, and without contacting family or accessing any of his or her assets. Sadly, this scenario is one that many families have had to confront in
In 2021 and 2022, I wrote about Surrogate’s Court decisions that addressed the admission of remotely witnessed wills to probate in New York State. Since then, Surrogate’s Courts have issued at least two more decisions addressing the validity of remotely
Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) made legal and mainstream news in 2023. In a highly publicized and widely discussed case, Mata v. Avianca, Inc., the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York sanctioned attorneys for citing to
For trust and estate litigators, the federal court experience invariably begins – and sometimes ends — with an analysis of the probate exception to federal diversity jurisdiction. Two recent Southern District cases examine the probate exception. Part 1 of this
A discovery proceeding pursuant to SCPA 2103 may be commenced by any legal representative of the estate, including a preliminary executor or a temporary administrator. Ed Baker provides an overview of these proceedings in our latest post.
The recent opinion by the Appellate Division, Third Department, in In re Strom Irrevocable Trust III, 2022 NY Slip Op 01356, provides a cautionary tale to estate litigators who conduct SCPA 1404 examinations in the face of a trust instrument’s