I often meet with parents in New York who have a clear intention: they want their assets to benefit their children. But a simple will
When an elderly parent goes into cardiac arrest in a Manhattan intensive care unit, the immediate instinct of the family is to demand doctors do
I once met with a family in Brooklyn whose father had done everything right—or so he thought. He had spent a considerable sum on a
A client recently came to our Manhattan office after her father passed away. As the newly appointed successor trustee, she went to his bank to
A client from Brooklyn called me last week. Her father had passed, and his will named her as the executor of his estate. After a
A client came to my office with a common but difficult problem. Years ago, he and his wife signed their Brooklyn home over to their
A client recently called me from her late father’s home in Brooklyn. She was the executor of his will, and while sorting through his belongings,
When a Brooklyn family discovers their father’s downloaded, ninety-nine-dollar will was witnessed by only one person instead of the two required by EPTL §3-2.1, the
I’ve seen it happen more than once. A brilliant founder builds a company from the ground up in a Brooklyn loft, pouring years of their
A building manager in Brooklyn calls a client. Her elderly uncle, who lived alone, has passed away in his apartment. The manager has, correctly, changed
A son sits at his late mother’s kitchen table in Brooklyn, a stack of papers in front of him. In the stack is the deed
When a Manhattan family sits down to read a parent’s will and discovers a directive to ship their remains to a cryonics facility in Arizona,
When a Brooklyn father passes away leaving a signed, handwritten letter in his desk drawer directing how his brokerage accounts should be divided, his family
When a Long Island family receives a brief, certified letter on a Friday afternoon stating that their father’s primary specialist is terminating services immediately, the
When a Queens widow discovers her late husband’s $1 million life insurance policy named his mother—who died a decade ago—as the primary beneficiary, the financial
When a Brooklyn widow loses her husband, the title to their shared brownstone automatically consolidates into her sole name. For the next decade, she pays
A client once came to my Manhattan office having named his 14-year-old son as the direct beneficiary of a sizable investment account. He believed he
An executor for a parent’s estate in Brooklyn receives a credit card statement in the mail, addressed to the deceased. The bill is for several
A client recently came into my Manhattan office with a straightforward question. He wanted to name his three adult children as co-executors of his will.
I sometimes get calls from people who have just moved to New York from another state. They see online services offering to generate a last
We received a call last month from a woman in Queens. Her estranged father had passed away at a city hospital with a few hundred
When a business owner in Brooklyn passes away with only a will, her family’s inheritance—the company she built for 30 years, her home, her investments—becomes
A client recently came to my office with her late father’s will. She was named the executor—the person responsible for carrying out his final wishes.
When a Brooklyn physician faced a staggering malpractice judgment in 2018 that exceeded his insurance limits, his most valuable asset—a brownstone owned outright with his
When a Long Island business owner dies unexpectedly without executing a will, the ensuing months do not belong to the grieving family. They belong to
A client came to our office not long ago with a common and admirable goal. He wanted to set up a trust for his two
As the golden years of retirement approach, many elderly individuals find themselves facing the harsh reality of financial insecurity. What happens when the nest egg
A son living in Dallas gets the call at 6:00 AM on a Sunday. His mother in Brooklyn has passed away unexpectedly. Before he can
I once met with a family from Brooklyn whose matriarch had suffered a severe stroke. She was alive but unable to communicate, and she had
A family in Brooklyn receives a formal document from the Surrogate’s Court called a “Citation.” It names a recently deceased relative and instructs them to
