Grief and money are a difficult combination. When family members disagree about a will, or suspect that an executor or trustee is not acting honestly, the dispute often ends up in Surrogate’s Court. We represent beneficiaries, heirs, executors and trustees in contested estate matters, with the goal of protecting our clients’ rights while resolving the dispute as efficiently as the circumstances allow.
Disputes we handle
- Will contests. Challenging, or defending, a will on grounds such as improper execution, lack of mental capacity, undue influence or fraud.
- Fiduciary misconduct. Holding executors, administrators and trustees accountable for self-dealing, mismanagement, unreasonable delay or failure to account.
- Contested accountings. Objecting to, or defending, a fiduciary’s accounting of how estate assets were handled and spent.
- Removal of a fiduciary. Seeking to remove an executor or trustee who is unfit or has a conflict of interest.
- Discovery and turnover proceedings. Recovering assets that were hidden, transferred shortly before death, or wrongly kept by a third party.
- Construction proceedings. Asking the court to interpret unclear or conflicting language in a will or trust.
Our approach
Estate litigation moves on its own timetable and has its own rules. Some deadlines are short, and certain rights can be lost if objections are not filed in time. We move quickly to assess your position, preserve evidence such as medical records and the drafting attorney’s file, and use the pre-objection examination of witnesses to test the facts before committing to a full contest.
At the same time, we never lose sight of the family relationships and legal costs involved. Many estate disputes are best resolved through negotiation or mediation, and we pursue settlement whenever it serves our client. When a fair resolution is not possible, we are prepared to take the case to trial.