Blog & Resources

Beneficiaries of New York estates will often approach us asking our help in keeping an eye on the estate’s executor. This is often the result of the executor not sharing information about the estate with the beneficiary, the executor’s unreasonable delays, or when the executor’s behavior has raised the beneficiary’s concern.

Question: My son’s Godparents both died in Philadelphia with a will and a Revocable Living Trust and the executor will not give me a copy. How do I get a copy of the will and the Revocable Living Trust?

First, the father needs to understand the documents he is requesting. The Will is the document that is filed with the Philadelphia Register of Wills and which then dictates where the deceased’s assets pass after death.

Question: My father died over two years ago and the executor has not yet sold the Brigantine house and will not return my calls, what can I do?

The executor is a fiduciary, with an obligation to follow the terms of the Will.
First, the beneficiary should examine the Will. Does the Will give any specific instructions concerning the house? Klenk Law often states in the Wills they draft that real estate “shall be sold”, to be clear that the executor needs to move forward selling the property.

Question: Can a Trustee be removed because he did not inform the beneficiaries of the irrevocable trust when they came of age? This Trust is in Camden, New Jersey.

Maybe.

A trustee removal action can be a long and painful process, so no action should be taken without having an experienced New Jersey Surrogates Court attorney review the trust and interview the interested parties.

Normally, if a dispute regarding a Will or Trust cannot be settled between the parties, the dispute is heard by one of the Orphans’ Court Judges. These hearings can last several days, require months of preparation, may involve dozens of witnesses and experts costing the parties large sums of money. In some cases, this is the only way to settle the dispute. In other cases Mediation is a reasonable alternative to an Orphan’s Court hearing.

Whenever a fiduciary files an Orphans’ Court Accounting, whether the filing is by an Agent under a Power of Attorney, a Trustee of a Trust or the Executor of an Estate, a person interested in that accounting has a handicap. The person filing the accounting has all the information; the beneficiary has only what the fiduciary has given them.

Interested persons do have a right to object to an accounting, but if, for example, the beneficiary does not have access to the bank statements, how exactly does the beneficiary know if the charges reflected on the accounting are accurate?