Opinion
Decided February 22, 2011.
APPEAL, by permission of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department, from an order of that Court, entered August 17, 2010. The Appellate Division affirmed a decree of the Surrogate's Court, New York County (Kristin Booth Glen, S.) which, among other things, had admitted a document dated September 12, 1958 to probate as the last will and testament of Seymour Halpern, also known as Seymour Lionel Halpern. The Appellate Division certified the following question: "Was the order of this Court, which affirmed the order of Surrogate's Court, properly made?"
The decedent married his first wife in 1953. On September 12, 1958, he purportedly executed a document that petitioners, his daughters, seek to probate as his will. The first wife died in 1981, and in 1988, the decedent married his second wife, the objectant. On June 7, 2006, decedent died, leaving an estate valued at approximately $28 million. At the time of his death, his family believed he died intestate, but two months after her husband's death, the objectant found an almost 50-year-old four-PAge document in their home. The decedent's children sought to have that document probated as his will.
Matter of Halpern, 76 AD3d 429, affirmed.
Duane Morris LLP, New York City ( Thomas R. Newman of counsel), for appellant. Cleary Gottlieb Steen Hamilton LLP, New York City ( Christopher P. Moore and Giannina Santo of counsel), for respondents.
Chief Judge LIPPMAN and Judges CIPARICK, GRAFFEO, READ, SMITH, PIGOTT and JONES.
OPINION OF THE COURT
On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.11 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals ( 22 NYCRR 500.11), order affirmed, with costs, and certified question not answered upon the ground that it is unnecessary. When viewed in its entirety, the testimony from the attesting witness is insufficient to create a triable issue of fact as to whether decedent's will was duly executed.