Opinion
2014-08-13
In the Matter of Nancy LUK, deceased. Dennis Lee, respondent; Chun Ka Luk, etc., et al., appellants.
Heller, Horowitz & Feit, P.C., New York, N.Y. (Eli Feit and Allen M. Eisenberg of counsel), for appellants. Aimee P. Levine, New York, N.Y., for respondent.
Heller, Horowitz & Feit, P.C., New York, N.Y. (Eli Feit and Allen M. Eisenberg of counsel), for appellants. Aimee P. Levine, New York, N.Y., for respondent.
In a proceeding for the administration of a decedent's estate, in which the respondent Dennis Lee petitioned pursuant to SCPA 2013 for an order directing a reservation of estate assets, Chun Ka Luk, the administrator of the estate, Bernice Luk, and Albert Luk appeal from an order of the Surrogate's Court, Nassau County (McCarty III, S.), dated December 17, 2012, which granted the petition and directed the administrator of the estate to reserve estate assets in the sum of $51,000,000, for a period of one year from the date of the order.
ORDERED that the appeal is dismissed as academic, without costs or disbursements.
As the order directing the administrator of the decedent's estate to reserve estate assets in the sum of $51,000,000 expired by its terms on December 17, 2013, any determinationby this Court will not directly affect the rights of the parties ( see Matter of Weiner v. State of New York, 89 A.D.3d 953, 953–954, 932 N.Y.S.2d 725;Festa v. Festa, 76 A.D.3d 1047, 1047–1048, 907 N.Y.S.2d 876;Matter of Bucaro v. Morales, 62 A.D.3d 994, 995, 880 N.Y.S.2d 140). Since the matter does not warrant the invocation of the exception to the mootness doctrine ( see Matter of Hearst Corp. v. Clyne, 50 N.Y.2d 707, 714, 431 N.Y.S.2d 400, 409 N.E.2d 876), we dismiss the appeal as academic ( see Matter of Weiner v. State of New York, 89 A.D.3d 953, 932 N.Y.S.2d 725;Festa v. Festa, 76 A.D.3d 1047, 907 N.Y.S.2d 876;Matter of Bucaro v. Morales, 62 A.D.3d at 995, 880 N.Y.S.2d 140). SKELOS, J.P., CHAMBERS, DUFFY and LaSALLE, JJ., concur.