Appellate Courts Weigh In

June 01, 2020

Despite the many challenges that have been wrought on the court system over the past several months, decisions of interest continue to educate and instruct the estate practitioner. Indeed, while the pandemic has caused much in our lives to come to a grinding halt, opinions impacting the field of trusts and estates abound.

Appellate Division Examines Gift-Giving Under Power of Attorney. In Goldberg v. Meyers, 2020 NY Slip Op 01602 (2d Dept. 2020), the Appellate Division reversed an order granting summary judgment to the plaintiff in an action to rescind two deeds. The plaintiff and the defendant were, respectively, the son and daughter of the decedent. In 2006, the decedent executed a durable power of attorney in favor of her daughter for purposes of, inter alia, real estate transactions. Several years thereafter, the decedent’s daughter, as attorney-in-fact, transferred her premises in Brooklyn to herself. Thirteen months later, the decedent died. Following the decedent’s death, the decedent’s daughter transferred the subject premises to herself and her husband as tenants by the entirety.

Ilene Sherwyn Cooper is a partner with Farrell Fritz, P.C. in Uniondale, where she concentrates in the area of trusts and estates. She is the past-chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Trusts and Estates Law Section.

Reprinted with permission from New York Law Journal, Monday, June 1, 2020, Vol 263 – No. 104

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