Frequently Asked Questions

If you have or believe you have a claim on assets included in an estate, you can file estate litigation. Examples include inheritors, relatives, individuals, or parties who may have lent money or provided services to the decedent but were not paid, or a purported beneficiary under state law. Our estate planning lawyers in QueensContinue reading “Who can file an estate dispute?”

Estate litigation may be filed at any point during the administration of the estate by any party who asserts a claim to the assets of the estate. This may include an alleged creditor of the decedent, a party who has rendered services to the estate, or a purported beneficiary under the decedent’s will or stateContinue reading “Who is entitled to file estate litigation?”

If you are thinking about estate litigation or are already in the middle of it, a lawyer can assist you by helping you collect and store potentially relevant evidence, responding to requests for information from the other side, and negotiating on your behalf to try to avoid the time and cost of going to courtContinue reading “How can an estate litigation attorney help?”

In the context of trust administration, fiduciary duty refers to the standard of care that a trustee is expected to exercise. Generally, as a fiduciary, a trustee is expected to always act in a manner that benefits the interests of the trust. Trustees are also expected not to act for their own benefit if doing so wouldContinue reading “What is “fiduciary duty?””

An executor or administrator generally has three primary duties with respect to an estate. These include identifying and collecting the assets of the decedent, paying the decedent’s outstanding debts and the expenses and taxes of the estate, and distributing the net assets of the estate according to the decedent’s will or state intestacy laws. WhileContinue reading “What does an executor or administrator of an estate do?”

Yes. Most employment and labor cases are resolved through alternative dispute resolution procedures rather than through traditional court litigation. Many labor agreements and employment contracts have clauses requiring employers and employees to pursue an out-of-court resolution of their dispute through formal mediation or through arbitration. Alternative dispute resolution has several benefits over court litigation, includingContinue reading “Can a labor or employment dispute be resolved without going to court?”

If you want to keep your business from getting into a costly, time-consuming employment or labor dispute, you should have well-written, effective employment and labor agreements that can solve issues or problems before they get to the point where they need to go to court. You should also have company policies and procedures that improveContinue reading “How do I prevent an employment or labor dispute?”

A restrictive covenant agreement can be enforced by the employer filing a legal demand against the party who breached the agreement or by filing a lawsuit in court. By filing suit in court, an employer may be entitled to obtain injunctive relief, or a court order barring a party from further breaches of the agreement.Continue reading “How is a restrictive covenant agreement enforced?”

Both New York and New Jersey are considered “blue pencil” states because courts in both jurisdictions have the authority to alter the terms or narrow the scope of a restrictive covenant to make the agreement enforceable. However, courts may decline to “blue pencil” a restrictive covenant if no reasonable modification of the agreement would makeContinue reading “What happens if a court finds that a restrictive covenant agreement is not enforceable because it is over-broad?”

In New York and New Jersey, courts will generally enforce restrictive covenant agreements so long as they have been voluntarily agreed to by all parties and the terms of the agreement are reasonable in scope, duration, and territory. In determining the reasonableness and therefore the enforceability of a restrictive covenant, courts focus on whether theContinue reading “When are restrictive covenants enforceable?”