Mid-Year Review: Three Notable Surrogate’s Court Decisions

The past several months saw a continuum of opinions rendered by the Surrogate’s Court addressed to issues affecting the practice of trusts and estates. This month’s column examines three decisions of interest during this period.

Request for Lis Pendens Denied/Hearing Scheduled On the Issue of Repudiation

In In re Decker, 71 Misc.3d 1216(A), the Surrogate’s Court, Orange County, was confronted with a contested application by one of the decedent’s three sons, as beneficiary of an inter vivos trust, to compel the trustee thereof to account.

The record reflected that the decedent died, testate, on June 3, 2003. Pursuant to the pertinent provisions of his Will, the decedent directed that the residue of his estate be added to the assets of a revocable living trust of which he was the grantor and one of his sons, Walter Jr., was the trustee. Upon admission of the Will to probate, Walter Jr. was also appointed the executor of the decedent’s estate.

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

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Mid-Year Review: Three Notable Surrogate’s Court Decisions | New York Law Journal

Reprinted with permission from New York Law Journal, Monday, October 4, 2021, Vol 266 – No. 22.