In re the Estate of Elyachar

48 Misc. 3d 852, 14 N.Y.S.3d 869
CourtNew York Surrogate's Court
DecidedJune 9, 2015
StatusPublished

This text of 48 Misc. 3d 852 (In re the Estate of Elyachar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Surrogate's Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Estate of Elyachar, 48 Misc. 3d 852, 14 N.Y.S.3d 869 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Thomas E. Walsh, S.

Alice Elyachar moves this court for an order compelling Richard Katz and Jonathan Elyachar (collectively, the petitioners), the proponents of an instrument dated July 23, 2008 for probate in the estate of Ralph Elyachar, to produce the following: (1) all documents in their possession, custody or control responsive to Alice’s document demand dated October 30, 2014; (2) HIPAA-compliant authorizations for all of the decedent’s medical providers that “permit her to speak with the decedent’s medical providers”; and (3) Michael Weinberger, Esq., the draftsman of and a witness to the instrument, for an SCPA 1404 (4) deposition, or in the alternative, appointing a physician to examine him and render a report on his mental condition at estate expense.

The petitioners oppose the motion and cross-move for (1) a protective order vacating the SCPA 1404 document demand made by Alice and Dana Elyachar Stahl and (2) an order determining that Alice and Dana do not have standing to continue this proceeding. Alice opposes the cross motion. Dana supports Alice’s motion and opposes the cross motion.

The motion and cross motion are decided as set forth below.

The facts relevant to this motion are as follows:

The decedent and his brother Daniel Elyachar were two principals in the Elyachar family real estate business which is comprised of five corporate entities that own and operate four residential buildings in Manhattan.1

In 1952, the decedent married Alice, and they had two daughters, Dana and Jody Elyacha. Jody predeceased the decedent on July 3, 2012, without issue and, at her death, she was married to Richard. Jonathan is Daniel’s son, and he and Richard are executives of these family real estate businesses.

On April 7, 2008, an action was instituted in the Supreme Court, New York County by an Evelyn Nick against Timston, Gerel, Ruradan and the decedent and Daniel individually (the Nick litigation). Ms. Nick had been an employee of the [854]*854corporate defendants and the causes of action were based on a February 19, 1996 termination agreement and a July 29, 2004 pension agreement. On May 30, 2008, the defendants answered the complaint, generally denying the allegations and asserting six defenses including the fact that Ms. Nick “took wrongful advantage of her relationship of trust and confidence with [the decedent] at times when she knew or had reason to believe that he was suffering from cognitive impairments.”

On July 23, 2008, the decedent executed the instrument and a trust agreement entitled the “Ralph Elyachar 2008 Revocable Declaration of Trust” (the trust). The instrument was drafted by attorney Weinberger and witnessed by him, Barbara Pedersen and Carole Bass. The instrument provided that, should Alice survive him, all of his personalty would go to her and the residuary estate poured into the trust. It nominated as fiduciaries Richard, Jonathan and Paul Scheer, the decedent’s accountant.2

The decedent was grantor and trustee of the trust, and on his death, incapacity or resignation, Richard, Jonathan and Paul were to be trustees. By instruments dated December 18, 2008, the decedent resigned as trustee and Richard accepted the position as trustee of the trust. By instrument dated February 10, 2009, Paul accepted his position as trustee of the trust. While not perfectly clear from the record, it appeared that Jonathan accepted his position as trustee on March 5, 2009.

The instrument and the trust contain an in terrorem clause which would act to disinherit any challenge to the instruments made by anyone other than Alice.

Attorney Weinberger drafted other instruments for the decedent including ones dated January 3, 2007 and October 26, 2007, which also poured over into a trust.

By order to show cause signed on January 15, 2009, in the Nick litigation, Alice made an application to the court for the appointment of a guardian ad litem for the decedent. In support of that application, she submitted the affidavit of William Suozzi, M.D. (sworn to on Jan. 3, 2009) which stated that based on his personal knowledge as the decedent’s internist for 20 years and on the decedent’s medical records, the decedent was

“not capable of making informed decisions regarding the conduct of his defense in this litigation. He [855]*855suffers from cognitive impairments, including memory loss and impaired executive functioning and reasoning ability. He is being treated with medications used for Alzheimer’s disease and may be suffering from that condition, which can only be diagnosed conclusively by autopsy.”

Also submitted in support of that application was the affidavit of Jesse Weinberger, M.D., a neurologist who had examined the decedent twice per year since the year 2005. The decedent was referred to Dr. Weinberger by Dr. Suozzi. Attached to the affidavit were reports made by Dr. Weinberger to Dr. Suozzi, treatment notes and medical records. Dr. Weinberger stated that

“[s]ince I first examined [the decedent] in 2005, his condition has deteriorated. I have prescribed Razadyne and Namenda, two drugs that are used to treat memory loss in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, but his memory is still impaired. He continues to experience episodes of confusion, and, in early 2008, he reported an episode of hallucinations. Most importantly, he exhibits significant loss of executive function consistent with frontal temporal dementia. This means that [the decedent’s] ability to integrate facts and events, his judgment and his decision-making are impaired.”

Richard was proposed by Alice to be the guardian ad litem, and he submitted an affidavit in support of the relief. In his affidavit, Richard stated that the decedent’s mental status in 2004 was an issue in the litigation and that during the period 2004 through mid-February 2008, the decedent’s role in the businesses “diminished to virtually nothing” and that Richard “handled most of [the decedent’s] correspondence and made the day-to-day decisions.” He further stated that “[b]y January 2008, ... it was office policy that [the decedent] was not to sign any checks.”

By decision and order dated August 4, 2009, the Supreme Court in the Nick litigation appointed Richard as guardian ad litem for the decedent to “appear for and protect [the decedent’s] interests in the action.”

The decedent died on April 7, 2014, survived by Alice and Dana. On May 21, 2014, Richard and Jonathan filed a petition for probate of the instrument.

On or about September 15, 2014, Dana served an SCPA 1404 pre-objection document demand on counsel for the petitioners. [856]*856In response, counsel for petitioners produced 450 documents. On October 13, 2014, Dana provided counsel for the petitioners with a list of three medical providers from whom she sought records regarding the decedent. Counsel for the petitioners state that they submitted the request for these medical records along with HIPAA-compliant authorizations to each provider.

On or about October 30, 2014, Alice’s counsel served an SCPA 1404 pre-objection document demand on counsel for the petitioners. It contained five demands.

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Bluebook (online)
48 Misc. 3d 852, 14 N.Y.S.3d 869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-estate-of-elyachar-nysurct-2015.