The Halfway Point: Decisions of Interest Mid-2022

June 06, 2022

As 2022 reaches its midway point, consideration should be given to some of the recent opinions rendered by the Surrogate’s and Appellate Courts that are of significance to the practice of trusts and estates. This month’s column addresses several of these decisions of interest.

Summary Judgment Denied Pending Further Discovery

In In re Bux, N.Y.L.J., Dec. 13, 2021, at p. 20 (Sur. Ct. Bronx County), the Surrogate’s Court, Bronx County, denied the petitioner’s motion for summary judgment, without prejudice, in order to allow the objectant further discovery. The petitioner, the decedent’s son, sought dismissal of the objections to probate filed by another son, on the grounds that he failed to comply with a so-ordered discovery stipulation, and that no triable issues of fact existed with respect to the validity of the propounded instrument.

The objectant opposed andfiled a cross-motion requesting dismissal of the probate proceeding and sanctions, on the grounds that the petitioner had failed to comply with discovery demands and schedule SCPA 1404 examinations, or in the alternative a so-ordered discovery schedule directing the proponent to pay the costs of the SCPA 1404 examinations.

Ilene Sherwyn Cooper is a partner with Farrell Fritz, P.C. in Uniondale, where she concentrates in the area of trusts and estates.

Reprinted with permission from New York Law Journal, Monday, June 6, 2022, Vol 267 – No. 107. 

View the PDF