by admin on March 31, 2009
The protracted criminal case involving the estate of socialite and philanthropist is nearing trial in New York City. Prosecuters say that her son and his lawyer conspired to defraud her by having her change her will when she was mentally incompetent to do so.
Of course it seems that the ultrarich lead different lives than everyone else. But much of the difference in this case is only in terms of scale. Her life had been grand and her son had plenty of money even before her decline and the changes to her will, whether or not they were executed properly.
This type of estate planning and settlement conflict, though, can happen in any family. An elderly person is in some manner of mental and physical decline. Certain trusted people are expected to perform certain functions. Change occurs. Someone in the family smells a rat and then sounds the alarm. Battle lines are drawn and sides chosen by the interested parties, both in and out of the family.
For this family, the conflict also involves criminal allegations, fortunately a rare occurrence in estate planning and settlement conflicts. The dispute also involves millions of dollars, famous names, and lots of publicity. But the sources of conflict are the same here as in most families in this painful situation.
by admin on March 30, 2009
Today’s New York Times includes a story by Charles V. Bagli titled “Family Feud Over a Will Nears an End After 25 Years.” Yes, 25 years in the New York court system. Two sisters, Evelyn and Diana, say that they had believed that their father had died broke and without a will in 1956. They say that they first learned, by happenstance, in 1983 that their father had owned as many as 100 properties in New York City and had left a handwritten will leaving them a portion of his estate. Worse still, the sisters say that they own mother and brother conspired to keep the will and the property a secret from them.
Their mother died in 1993, but the brother, Walter Sakow, claims that his sisters knew about the will, that the properties were far fewer in number, and that the proceeds from the properties were used to his sisters’ benefit.
The dispute has wound through the Bronx Surrogate Court, the Appellate Division, and back. The case is finally drawing to a close as a determination is made about what to do with the remaining seven properties, valued at $11.3 million in 2007.
What could drive a dispute to last so long? In large part because the judicial process has been unusually slow. But, I often say that the combination of money and emotion is fertile ground for conflict. This conflict has both in spades: millions of dollars and the sisters’ profound sense of betrayal by their own mother and brother.
by admin on March 20, 2009
A recent article posted on mediate.com, ” The Culture of the Code” by Daniel Rainey and Alma Abdul-Hadi Jadallah, mentioned an eye-catching statistic. It stated that the largest Section, or interest group, in the American Bar Association is now the Section on Dispute Resolution. It is remarkable that more people choose to join that Section than any other. Certainly Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) is not in the news as much as the subject area of some other Sections. Perhaps it is a statement about the direction in which the legal profession is moving that the Section on Dispute Resolution is leading the way.
by admin on March 18, 2009
As part of my work as a member of the Executive Committee of the Connecticut Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Section, I maintain a listing of Dispute Resolution websites of interest to Section members and the general public. Periodically I update the listing and I welcome suggestions of new sites or sites not listed but possibly of interest. I recently completed an update with the help of the CBA webmaster. You can view the listing on the Connecticut Bar Association’s website, on the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Section webpage, at Dispute Resolution websites.