A daughter learns that her father's final will leaves most of his estate to a caregiver. The document was signed shortly before his death, when he was receiving medical treatment and relying on others for daily assistance....
A business sends a customer a final demand for an unpaid balance. The principal amount is straightforward, but the demand also includes contractual interest, monthly charges, and attorney's fees. The customer responds that only the original invoice...
A family agrees that a deceased parent's house should be sold. The property is listed, an offer is accepted, and a closing date is proposed. Then the title company asks who actually has authority to convey...
A business owner may believe that a contract dispute should be straightforward. There is a signed agreement, the plaintiff performed, and the defendant has not paid. Yet the defendant says the work was defective, the contract was...
A daughter holds her mother's New York power of attorney and has been paying household bills for several years. When the mother becomes seriously ill, the daughter asks whether she can transfer money to herself...
An executor submits an accounting showing the property received, expenses paid, and proposed distributions.
The numbers may appear complete, but a beneficiary questions several transactions. Estate funds were used to maintain a house occupied by one family member. Legal fees seem excessive. Property was sold for less than expected....
A business lawsuit often begins with competing versions of the same transaction.
The plaintiff says the defendant failed to perform an agreement. The defendant says the plaintiff did not perform, changed the terms, or is demanding money that was never owed.
The pleadings identify those positions,...
An estate may remain open for years. Real estate may not yet have been sold, creditor claims may remain unresolved, litigation may be pending, or assets may still be held in an estate account.
What happens if the executor or administrator dies before the work is completed?
A property owner preparing to sell or refinance may discover that a notice of pendency has been filed against the property.
The notice can complicate the transaction immediately. A purchaser or lender reviewing title will see that litigation may affect the property's ownership, possession, use, or another qualifying property...
A couple may live together for twenty years, own a home, share expenses, and consider themselves a family. But if one partner dies without an estate plan, New York law may produce a result neither intended.
The surviving partner may have no automatic right to inherit the deceased partner's...
