Matter of Hibbert

137 A.D.3d 786, 25 N.Y.S.3d 893

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: March 2, 2016
• Docket: 2015-01478
• Status: Published

Opinion

In a contested probate proceeding, the petitioner appeals from an order of the Surrogate’s Court, Kings County (Johnson, S.), dated September 30, 2014, which denied his motion, inter alia, for leave to extend his time to file a motion, in effect, for summary judgment dismissing objections and to admit to probate the decedent’s last will and testament.

Ordered that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.

In this contested probate proceeding, a pretrial order set a deadline for the filing of all pretrial motions. After the deadline for filing all pretrial motions had passed, the petitioner moved, inter alia, for leave to extend his time to file a motion, in effect, for summary judgment dismissing objections and to admit to probate the decedent’s last will and testament. The Surrogate’s Court denied the motion.

The petitioner failed to make a showing of good cause for the delay in making the motion, as the excuse proffered by the petitioner amounted to a perfunctory claim of law office failure (see Brill v City of New York, 2 NY3d 648, 652 [2004]; Quinones v Joan & Sanford I. Weill Med. Coll. & (Graduate Sch. of Med. Sciences of Cornell Univ., 114 AD3d 472 [2014]).

The petitioner’s remaining contentions are without merit.

Accordingly, the petitioner’s motion was properly denied.

Balkin, J.P., Hall, Roman and Maltese, JJ., concur.