Serving the Needs of Business Clients & Non-Profits

Will, Trust, & Other Conflict Matters

These matters grew out of my general business practice. I have been involved in many contests over the validity and/or enforcement of provisions in Wills and Trusts, including multi-jurisdictional matters, some of which have taken me out of the country and across the world. These matters have included beneficiary contests, inter-generational matters, second family disputes, and cases against fiduciaries such as Executors and Personal Representatives, Trustees, and others for breaches of fiduciary duty. 

I am at the conclusion of an international estate case, which I tried successfully in three different countries to gain control over for the rightful primary beneficiary, and which included assets located in several countries which were in turn owned by entities formed in yet other countries, which created conflicting legal rights to the same assets, let alone tax burdens. This case has been challenging because the decedent (apparently on purpose) left no Will. I took this on in 2015, and gained control in 2019, and have spent the time since then in very complicated liquidations of assets. When I was interviewed (among others) for the case, my Client told me all lawyers interviewed had the knowledge to do the case, but I was the only one who answered how long it would take. My answer was, “I don’t know how long this will take; I only know that like any other complicated estate (and this one is remarkably complicated), it can be solved. It is not a question of “If,” only a question of “When!”

“When” has now arrived.

I am also now at the conclusion of another multistate, two country intestacy of a hoarder who's estate I had to create by going through literally hundreds of pieces of unorganized paper including years of unopened mail and 12 years of failure to file tax returns, recovering millions of dollars and settling significant Federal, Sate and Foreign Jurisdiction Tax Problems. Another example of "When" not "If."

Most recently, I have taken on a Will contest of a decedent's estate whose council with actual knowledge the decedent was disabled and could not go to council's office to execute decedent's estate plan and who notified council's office from the hospital for emergency surgery, dying within days of that notice, leaving a voicemail that decedent would not rest for all eternity without the new Will.

Negligence Cases

Most but not all my negligence cases are business-related and generally relate to professional beaches of duty. However, because I represent clients who have general needs, I have often been consulted concerning personal injury cases with respect to finding the right lawyer for a particular type of injury. With regard to injured persons who have special needs, I actively handle the creation and administration of special needs trusts for ongoing care, structured settlements, and in cases where the damages are significant and depend upon collection from non-insured defendants, structuring a judgment to protect the injured persons rights by preventing a defendant from eliminating the debt by a subsequent bankruptcy (interestingly enough, many personal injury lawyers have engaged me over the years to “structure and judgment proof” their settlements and/or judgments against bankruptcies).

I have also handled claims against medical facilities on behalf of unrepresented individuals who are otherwise alone in a bewildering system. This started as a pro bono service and grew into a specialty practice area. 

In addition to contract and tort cases and general statutory matters that affect business and consumer cases, I became involved in recovering stolen art and other valuable articles of artistic creation. I have represented art collectors, galleries, Warner Brothers to recover millions of dollars of stolen costumes and by referral from Warner Brothers, the late actress Debbie Reynolds who created the Hollywood Museum of Motion Picture, Television, and History, for whom I recovered a large cache of very valuable stolen costumes. I have also had cases against sellers and buyers of art where the title was in dispute, and forged art cases.

Regardless of the field of law within my broad general practice, the "Golden Rule" always applies, it's 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I stand ready to compete for and earn your trust and confidence.