You are here: / / Family Members Failed to Raise a Question of Fact About Whether Care-Provider...

Family Members Failed to Raise a Question of Fact About Whether Care-Provider Exercised Undue Influence Over Decedent

The Third Department determined Surrogate’s Court properly granted summary judgment dismissing the objections and admitting the will to probate.  The respondents failed to raise a question of fact about whether the decedent’s care-provider had exercised undue influence over the decedent.  The care-provider, by the terms of the will, was allowed to live in decedent’s home rent-free for a designated period after decedent’s death.  The rest of decedent’s estate went to organizations decedent was affiliated with, nothing was allotted to respondent family members:

To establish undue influence, respondents were required to demonstrate that decedent “was actually constrained to act against [her] own free will and desire by identifying the motive, opportunity and acts allegedly constituting the influence, as well as when and where such acts occurred” … .  The influence asserted must rise to the level of “a moral coercion” …, and “[m]ere speculation and conclusory allegations, without specificity as to precisely where and when the influence was actually exerted, are insufficient to raise an issue of fact” … .

Here, even assuming that respondents’ proof was sufficient to establish that [the care-provider] had motive and opportunity to influence decedent’s testamentary dispositions, respondents failed to demonstrate that House actually exercised undue influence with respect to the distribution of decedent’s assets.  By all accounts, decedent was a very intelligent, private and strongwilled woman who “ran her life the way she wanted to run it.” Matter of Stafford…, 516429, 3rd Dept 11-27-13

 

You might also like
Conditions of Probation Which Allowed Release of Defendant’s Pre-Sentence Investigation Report Illegal
RESPONDENT WAIVED HIS RIGHT TO ARBITRATE HIS TERMINATION PURSUANT TO THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BY BRINGING A BREACH OF CONTRACT ACTION SEEKING THE SAME RELIEF ON THE SAME GROUNDS, AS WELL AS DAMAGES (THIRD DEPT).
NO PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION FOR NEGLIGENT PERFORMANCE OF A GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTION AGAINST THE BOARD OF PAROLE (THIRD DEPT).
THE DEFAULT LETTER, WHICH INDICATED THE MORTGAGE DEBT WOULD BE ACCELERATED AT A SPECIFIC FUTURE DATE IF THE DEFAULT WERE NOT CURED, DID NOT ACCELERATE THE DEBT; THEREFORE THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS DID NOT START RUNNING AND THE FORECLOSURE ACTION WAS TIMELY (THIRD DEPT).
FAMILY COURT DOES NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES (DSS) TO COMMENCE A NEGLECT PROCEEDING (THIRD DEPT).
REFERENCES TO DEVIATE BEHAVIOR AND USE OF FORCE IN PETITIONER-INMATE’S CRIME AND SENTENCE INFORMATION FORM AND HIS COMPAS RISK AND NEEDS ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT NOT SUPPORTED BY THE SEXUAL OFFENSES COMMITTED; THE PETITION SEEKING CORRECTION OF THE DOCUMENTS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISMISSED (THIRD DEPT).
People Did Not Meet Their Burden of Demonstrating Developmentally Disabled Respondent, Who Had Been In the Care and Custody of the OPWDD Since His Acquittal of a Criminal Charge By Reason of Mental Disease or Defect, Was “Mentally Ill”—Respondent’s Release Was Appropriate
No Interlocutory Appeal Lies from a Pre-Trial Ruling on the Admissibility of Evidence Which Did Not Limit the Scope of the Issues or Theories of Liability to Be Tried

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

Copyright © 2023 New York Appellate Digest, LLC
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

Surrogate’s Court Has Jurisdiction to Determine the Legal Fees Owed to Out-Of-State... “Special Relationship” Required Before Municipality Can Be Liable for Failure...