An elderly parent collapses at a family dinner in Brooklyn. Paramedics arrive, but the parent has a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order on file. The
A client of mine, a successful entrepreneur, once bought her first significant piece of real estate—a brownstone in Brooklyn—entirely on her own. The deed listed
A surviving spouse walks into a Manhattan bank branch holding her late husband’s original will, expecting to access his individual checking account to pay for
A young tech executive in Manhattan thinks she has her affairs in order. She used a popular online service to generate her will, printed it,
Last month, a family from Brooklyn sat in my office with a will their father bought online for $99. It looked official enough. But someone
A client’s mother passes away in her home on Long Island. Tucked in a safe deposit box is her will, properly signed and witnessed. The
A client sat in my Manhattan office recently—a man who had spent his life building a successful manufacturing business from the ground up. “Russel,” he
I often meet with families in our Manhattan office who have owned their home for decades. Their question is always the same: “We’ve worked our
A construction worker from Queens falls from a scaffold on a Manhattan job site. After eighteen months of litigation, a settlement check arrives. The relief
A Brooklyn father decides to save his daughter the future hassle of Surrogate’s Court. He downloads a two-page legal form, fills it out at the
A family in Brooklyn finishes the long process of probating their mother’s will. The executor, following the decree from the Surrogate’s Court, has begun distributing
A client once brought me a will they had drafted from an online template. It listed their assets with perfect accuracy but failed to name
A client once came to my office with her late husband’s will. He was a successful Manhattan entrepreneur who, after a late-in-life disagreement, had rewritten
A client’s son recently sat in my Manhattan office, confused. “My mother had a will,” he said. “I thought that meant we were done.” He
An executor for her father’s estate in Brooklyn just received two invoices. One is from our firm for the initial legal work. The other is
A family gathers in a wood-paneled office after a funeral, waiting for a lawyer to unseal an envelope and read a loved one’s final wishes
I recently sat with a family from Nassau County whose parents had done what they thought was right—they left a detailed will. The will was
A few years ago, a client from Manhattan appointed her brother as her agent under a Power of Attorney. It seemed like the prudent choice.
I once met with the children of a successful Brooklyn restaurant owner a few weeks after his funeral. He had a simple will from 20
When a Manhattan family discovers an un-notarized trust document in a deceased parent’s desk, the next nine months belong to Surrogate’s Court. I see this
A family in Brooklyn opens their late father’s safe deposit box. Inside, beneath stock certificates and a property deed, is the document they were looking
A few years ago, a family came to my office after their father passed. He had downloaded a will from the internet, filled it out
A client—a tech executive in Manhattan with a family home in the city and a weekend place on Long Island—recently asked me, “Russel, my will
When a Brooklyn family discovers a signed quitclaim deed tucked inside their late father’s desk transferring the family home to his children, they usually assume
As we journey through life, many of us diligently save and invest our hard-earned money, with hopes of enjoying the fruits of our labor in
An adult child in Brooklyn learns their father recently remarried and suspects the family estate plan has changed. They call our office asking how they
When a Manhattan family discovers that their father attempted to update his estate plan by typing a one-page addendum and signing it at his kitchen
A couple in Brooklyn owns their brownstone outright. They’ve spent 30 years paying it off, and it represents the bulk of their life’s work. Their
A client, a successful architect from Brooklyn, recently sat in my office. “I keep reading about trusts,” he said, “but it feels like there are
We live in a society where instant gratification is the norm, but when it comes to the probate process, patience is not just a virtue,
