When a Brooklyn family loses a parent, the grief is immediate. But when they discover that parent relied on a website to draft their estate
A Manhattan grandfather leaves his “vintage Rolex” to his eldest grandson in a will drafted in 2012. By the time he passes away twelve years
The call often comes at an impossible hour. A loved one has passed away in another state, and you need to be on the next
An elderly father in Brooklyn begins to miss appointments. His bills are going unpaid, and a daughter who checks in finds stacks of unopened mail
When a family member passes away, their original Last Will and Testament is the first document everyone looks for. Finding it brings a sense of
A client sits across from my desk in Manhattan, ready to sign their will. We’ve spent weeks discussing their assets, their family dynamics, and their
An elderly mother passes away in her Queens apartment. Her son, named as the executor in her will, knows she had a pension and owned
A client came to me last month with a common, and very human, problem. His son, a bright 19-year-old in his first year of college,
When a Brooklyn family discovers their late parents’ home was never transferred into a trust, the immediate aftermath is chaotic. Before we can petition Surrogate’s
When a Brooklyn family loses a parent who relied solely on a will, the next nine to eighteen months belong to Surrogate’s Court. The family
A brownstone in Park Slope, a family business in Williamsburg, savings built over a lifetime. Without a deliberate plan, what happens to it all when
When a family finally closes on a brownstone in Brooklyn after months of negotiation, the closing table is a blur of signatures. You sign the
Every few years, an executive sits across the desk in our Madison Avenue office and asks a variation of the same question. Usually, it starts
When a Long Island business owner passes away, their will doesn’t remain a private family document. Within weeks, it’s filed with the county Surrogate’s Court,
A client once brought me his father’s will, a straightforward document leaving a valuable Brooklyn brownstone to him and his brother. On its face, it
A client recently came into my Manhattan office with a printout from an online legal site. “I want one of these,” he said, pointing to
When a parent passes away in Manhattan, their adult children often believe a valid will means a simple, private transfer of assets. It rarely does.
Imagine a chaotic scene in a Manhattan emergency room. A person is unconscious, unable to communicate, and a critical medical decision must be made. The
I once worked with a family whose patriarch had spent 40 years building a successful manufacturing business in Queens. He was a sharp, deliberate man
A family in Brooklyn receives an official-looking document in the mail called a “Citation.” It’s from the Surrogate’s Court and names a recently deceased relative.
When a Manhattan family discovers their father’s declining memory has made it impossible for him to manage his financial affairs, they often assume his revocable
A client is 24 hours from closing on their Manhattan apartment—the culmination of a six-month search. They arrive for the final walk-through, expecting to see
A client of mine from Brooklyn Heights got the call every child dreads. His mother, a fiercely independent woman who had lived in the same
When a Manhattan patriarch dies leaving his three adult children as co-executors of his estate, the intention is usually harmony. He wants to avoid playing
I once met with a new client, a retired executive from Manhattan, who had done everything right—or so he thought. He had diligently created a
A client called our Manhattan office after receiving a certified letter from a trust company she’d never heard of. It informed her she was a
When a Manhattan family with heavily concentrated real estate holdings loses a patriarch, the immediate crisis is rarely a lack of total wealth. The crisis
When a Brooklyn parent passes away leaving only a single checking account containing $42,000, the surviving children typically expect a brief, polite conversation with the
When it comes to executing a will, choosing the right person for the job is crucial. The role of an executor is no small feat,
When a surviving spouse walks into Surrogate’s Court in Brooklyn to file a petition for probate, they are usually carrying a folder of death certificates,
