Superior Court Judge Walter Koprowski, Jr. ruled on February 1, 2011 that handwritten notations on a hand-written letter constituted a valid will, although the letter itself did not. In Estate of Randall, the decedent’s cousin, plaintiff Charles Cameron, III, offered for probate two pages of a photocopied letter from 1998, with original marginal notations. The.. read more →
I was named to the Super Lawyer list in 2011 in the area of Elder Law. Elder Law is a legal specialty encompassing a number of practice areas focusing on the legal issues affecting seniors and people with disabilities. The major legal practice areas under the umbrella of Elder Law include estate planning and trust.. read more →
More than in prior years, this year I’ve been focused on preparing “top ten” lists. Regular readers may have noticed this. I think I’ve prepared 6 “top ten” lists in the past few months, summarizing the top New Jersey cases decided in 2010 in the various areas of law that my law firm practices in,.. read more →
The validity of a 1977 alleged holographic will was at issue in the Estate of Inez Bull case, decided on March 10, 2011 by the Hon. Walter Koprowski, Jr., J.S.C. On summary judgment, Judge Koprowski ruled that the holographic will was valid, and admitted it to probate. Inez Bull had drafted a purported holographic will.. read more →
What Is Collaborative Law? Collaborative law is an emerging dispute resolution technique in which each party retains a lawyer, but the lawyers pledge not to resort to the courts (or threaten to do so) to resolve issues. If the collaborative technique is unsuccessful, the lawyers must withdraw, and the parties start over through litigation. How.. read more →
(The following is part of a discussion, taken from a listserv, or electronic bulletin board, between attorneys involved in advising trustees of Special Needs Trusts (SNT). This discussion concerns the appropriateness of distributions from a Special Needs Trust to pay for medical marijuana to be used by the trust beneficiary who lives in the State.. read more →
The decedent, William Walb Jr., executed a will in January 2003, in compliance with the statutory requirements regarding execution set forth in N.J.S.A. 3B:3-2a. The decedent was a widower at the time he executed the Will and had no children. In his will, the decedent left approximately 81% of his substantial estate assets to Albright.. read more →
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