Practice Areas

New York City Attorney Serving Your Estate Planning, Probate, Real Estate, and Guardianship Needs

Attorney Jules Haas has handled trusts and estates matters for more than 30 years. If a family member has passed away or there is any estate administration issue you need help with, you may be dealing with substantial stress and anxiety. As an experienced New York City estate planning lawyer, Mr. Haas can make this time easier for you by promptly helping you plan for the future or handle disputes during an illness or after the death of a loved one. He also represents clients in real estate and guardianship matters.

Trusts and Estates

Our firm handles matters involving wills, trusts, probate and estate administration, the selection of an executor or administrator, estate taxes, estate settlement services, estate litigation, will contests, kinship hearings, Surrogate’s Court accountings, advance directives, breach of fiduciary duty, and powers of attorney, among others.

Estate planning is important if you want to make sure that your property is disposed of in accord with your wishes after your death and to minimize the tax burden on your family members. Instruments that may be drafted to indicate your intentions include a Last Will, a Power of Attorney, a Health Care Proxy, a Living Trust, or a Living Will. If someone dies without a Last Will, their property passes according to the laws of intestacy in New York. The estate may be subject to probate or intestate administration proceedings. In some cases, it may be appropriate to challenge a loved one’s will through a will contest. Grounds for bringing a will contest in New York include lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, and improper execution of a will. In other case, a compulsory accounting proceeding may be needed or objections to an executor or trustee accounting. An estate planning attorney can help New York residents with any of these matters.

Real Estate

We also provide legal representation in connection with real estate closings, real estate contracts, real estate litigation, title insurance, title report information, landlord-tenant disputes, common and joint tenancies, property liens, mortgages, condominiums, buy-sell agreements, zoning requirements, co-ops, and land encroachment. Numerous decisions must be made in connection with real estate contracts, including how the property will be held, which zoning requirements apply, and whether to purchase title insurance. In New York, title may be held by an individual or by joint owners. Joint owners will need to know whether the property should be held in a joint tenancy, in a tenancy by the entirety, or as tenants in common. Tenancy by the entirety is the default form of ownership for married couples.

Guardianships

Our firm handles cases under Article 81 of the New York Mental Hygiene Law, as well as matters related to daily living evaluations, mental incapacity, health care proxies, contested guardianship cases, and guardianship cases involving court evaluators.

Article 81 of the Mental Hygiene Law empowers the court to appoint a guardian if the appointment is necessary to provide for someone’s personal needs or to manage that person’s property and financial affairs. The court conducts a hearing to determine if the person is incapacitated. Guardianship orders should be carefully tailored and limited to address only an incapacitated person’s specific disability. For example, guardianship may be appropriate for someone who cannot pay bills due to a mental disability, and the order should so specify. In other cases, guardianship may be appropriate because someone is unable to handle daily living tasks and needs someone else to bathe, feed, and otherwise help them. Under Article 81, the court must consider whether an alternative way to meet an incapacitated person’s needs would be less restrictive while still meeting the person’s foreseeable needs.

Consult a Real Estate, Guardianship, and Estate Planning Lawyer in New York City

Jules Haas is dedicated to protecting the interests of clients throughout Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens, as well as in Brooklyn, Staten Island, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties. Contact us at (212) 355-2575 or use our online form to set up an appointment with a New York City estate planning attorney, discuss your needs with a real estate lawyer, or explore your options with regard to a prospective or existing guardianship.