Bronx Estate Litigation

Experienced Bronx Lawyer for Estate Litigation

When someone in the Bronx passes away, heated disputes may arise among that person’s survivors, and these can quickly turn into difficult and expensive litigation. Estate litigation comprises both will and trust contests and can involve other related issues, as well. Whether you are an heir, interested party, or fiduciary, it is imperative to seek knowledgeable legal representation to achieve the best results in your case. Seasoned Bronx estate litigation attorney Jules Haas has more than 40 years of experience. He can assess the facts of your situation and help you evaluate your legal options.

Estate Litigation

In order to make sure property is disposed of according to their wishes, people often make a will or trust, or both. These are written instruments executed for purposes of distributing property under certain circumstances, such as the death of the person making the instrument. Even when care is taken with a will or trust, the disposition of property may be a heated affair. Loved ones may disagree with the wishes of the person making the will or trust, or they may be suspicious of the circumstances surrounding the drafting and execution of the instrument. It is possible to challenge the validity of a testamentary instrument through a will contest or trust contest. These are some of the most common forms of estate litigation.

Reasons to contest a will or trust include fraud, undue influence, incapacitation, incompetence, and failure to execute the instrument properly. In some cases, a caregiver with influence over an elderly person’s daily living successfully tries to exert control over the disposition of the elderly person’s property, so that the caregiver receives substantial assets upon that elderly person’s death; it may be appropriate to bring a will contest on the grounds of undue influence. Another potential basis for estate litigation is when an elderly person has acquired a condition that makes him or her unlikely to understand what a will or trust says; the grounds for the contest would be lack of testamentary capacity. For example, if your father made a new will after he developed Alzheimer’s and you were disinherited, you might assert that he lacked testamentary capacity in a will contest and request that an earlier will be honored.

You can only bring a will contest if you have a pecuniary interest in the decedent’ estate. A pecuniary interest means you have a financial advantage of possible benefit that is linked to the estate litigation’s outcome. Generally, those who would inherit a larger share of the estate in the event there weren’t a valid will have a pecuniary interest. Similarly, those who would get less under the will at issue in comparison to an earlier revoked will have a pecuniary interest for purposes of challenging the will.

What is Kinship Asset Discovery?

Kinship asset discovery is a procedure that applies if someone dies intestate, meaning they didn’t leave behind a will or trust to govern the disposition of their estate. In such cases, intestacy laws apply, and the kinship asset discovery will determine whether someone claiming he or she should inherit is, in fact, next of kin and should receive an inheritance. The discovery entails the survivor showing: (1) he had a blood relationship to the deceased, (2) nobody has a closer level of consanguinity, and (3) whether any others, such as a sibling, have the same degree of consanguinity. Proof needs to be made with testimony and certified records.

Lawyer for Estate Disputes Related to Real Property

Often estate litigation arises in connection with real property. For instance, suppose a person dies with only one asset, the home where they lived, and beneficiaries lived at the same house, but won’t leave after the decedent died, even though another person has inherited the property. It is possible for an executor to try to evict these types of tenants in a turn-over proceeding in the course of probate. A turn-over proceeding can be brought in the Bronx Surrogate’s Court, and through it, you may be able to obtain unpaid rents and costs. In this type of proceeding, the executor or administrator asks the court to order a third party who has possession of property, such as real estate, to turn over that property to the fiduciary that is overseeing the estate. Landlord-tenant eviction proceedings may also be used to evict third parties from the real estate owned by the estate.

Sometimes a large parcel of real estate originally belonging to a decedent is held in a trust. A beneficiary of the trust may object to how the trustee is handling management of the real property, and might wish to make allegations of self-dealing, imprudent management decisions, or breach of fiduciary duty in the interests of getting the trustee removed. For example, if it appears that a trustee has taken a lucrative opportunity for himself that should have gone to the estate, a beneficiary may have the desire to obtain an accounting related to the real estate.

Consult a Trustworthy Estate Litigation Attorney in the Bronx

Often estate litigation in the Bronx arises in the course of substantial family quarrels. These lawsuits require the attention of an experienced lawyer with sensitivity to family dynamics and stellar knowledge of the law. Estate litigation attorney Jules Haas has represented clients in the Bronx for more than four decades. Whether you’re concerned about bringing a will contest, need to defend your accounting for a trust, or need to initiate a turnover proceeding, you can call Jules Haas at (212) 355-2575 or contact us through our online form. We review cases for free and offer reasonable fee structures.