Press ReleaseThis month’s column, coming on the heels of New York’s re-opening, provides a glimpse of the important work the Surrogate’s Court has been involved with since the beginning of the year. Covering such matters as the republication of wills, summary judgment, and relief from a default judgment, a discussion of the opinions that address these issues follows.
Republication and Revocation of Will
Before the Surrogate’s Court, Queens County, in In re Weiner, was an uncontested probate proceeding in which the petitioner sought admission to probate of a 2014 Will, a copy of a codicil, dated Jan. 11, 2017, and a second codicil, dated Jan. 26, 2017. In re Weiner, N.Y.L.J., Jan. 17, 2020, at 17 (Sur. Ct. Queens County). The differences in the instruments lay in the appointment of the estate fiduciary. By her Will, the decedent nominated her daughter as the executor of her estate; in the first codicil to the instrument, she nominated both of her children as the executors of her estate, and otherwise ratified and confirmed her Will; and in the second codicil, she appointed her attorney, the draftsperson of all three instruments, as the executor of her estate, and again, ratified and confirmed her Will.
Ilene Sherwyn Cooper is a partner with Farrell Fritz, P.C. in Uniondale, where she concentrates in the area of trusts and estates.
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Opening Up | New York Law Journal
Reprinted with permission from New York Law Journal, Monday, August 3, 2020, Vol 264 – No. 23.
