New York Update

Martin O’Toole (Partner, Harter Secrest & Emery LLP) recently authored an article entitled Trusts and Estates, 58 Syracuse L. Rev. 1191. (2008).

Here is a summary of his article:

Mr. O’Toole discusses various areas of the practice of Trusts and Estates law.  Part I uses Federal cases to look at the deductibility of investment advisory fees and the scope of the probate exception to Federal diversity jurisdiction.  Part II focuses on New York legislation and looks at the examination of a fiduciary, late discovery of assets, Section 2307-a disclosures, after-born children, nomination of guardian/reports, disposition of remains, standby guardians and the need for a hearing, authorization of family members to make medical decisions for an individual with mental retardation, the statute of limitations for marital agreements, excludible income for Medicaid purposes and self-settled supplemental needs trusts, and the abandonment of a pre-need funeral account.  Finally, Part III takes New York cases of note and looks at arbitration cases, after-born children and reproductive technology, the use of a living trust to fund expenses of estate administration, termination of uneconomical trusts, beneficiary designations, attorney-client confidentiality in estate administration, the use of reformation proceedings to create supplemental needs trusts, bank accounts, the appointment of a public administrator as trustee, power of attorney cases, the ability of an attorney-executor to represent himself, the authority to sell property subject to a life estate, attorney’s fees, and the cy pres proceeding.