Ilene Cooper, of Farrell Fritz Attorneys, has mad available for download her article, “Appellate Division Addresses the Removal of a Fiduciary”, published on the New York State Litigation Blog. The abstract is as follows:
While the removal of a fiduciary has long been the subject of Surrogate’s Court opinions, it is not often that the Appellate Division weighs in on the issue. However, in Matter of Epstein, 2022 NY Slip Op 00658 (2d Dep’t 2022), the Second Department did just that. The opinion is an important guidepost for the kind of conduct that warrants a fiduciary’s removal.
In Matter of Epstein, the Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed a decree of the Surrogate’s Court, Suffolk County which, after a nonjury trial, inter alia, denied the petitioner’s request to revoke the letters testamentary issued to her co-fiduciary, and modified the decree of the same court, which denied the petitioner’s request to revoke the letters of trusteeship issued to her co-trustee, and substituted therefor a provision that the application be granted.
The decedent died, testate, on August 17, 2008, survived by two daughters (the petitioner and the respondent, respectively), and three grandchildren. Pursuant to the pertinent provisions of his will, the decedent created generation skipping trusts (GST) for the benefit of his grandchildren and devised and bequeathed the residue of his estate in equal shares to his daughters. Upon admission of the decedent’s will to probate, letters testamentary and of trusteeship issued to the petitioner and the respondent, as the nominated executors and trustees thereunder.
To see the full article, click: “Appellate Division Addresses the Removal of a Fiduciary”
Posted by Marin Larkin, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.
Wealth Strategies Journal 