In re the Estate of Kraus
Opinion of the Court
In a proceeding, inter alia, for an accounting, Gail Rogal appeals from an order of the Surrogate’s Court, Westchester County (Emanuelli, S.), entered July 7, 1992, which denied her motion for summary judgment dismissing the
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs payable by the appellant personally.
Martin Kraus (hereinafter the decedent) had two daughters, Anne Rubenfeld (hereinafter the respondent) and Gail Rogal (hereinafter the appellant). The decedent owned a share of a plumbing company, and he owned a 50% interest in the partnership that owned the building that the plumbing company occupied. The decedent entered into a written agreement to sell his share of the plumbing company to the respondent and her husband, Martin Rubenfeld (hereinafter the Rubenfelds). As part of the agreement, the decedent agreed to provide in his will that, when he died, his 50% interest in the partnership would be devised to the Rubenfelds. However, the decedent failed to do so. In his will, the decedent appointed his two daughters as co-executrices of his estate, and he devised the remainder of his estate, which included his interest in the partnership, to his daughters to be divided equally between them.
Martin Rubenfeld, seeking to have the decedent’s interest in the partnership transferred to the Rubenfelds, filed a claim against the estate. The respondent filed an amended petition to judicially settle her account as co-executrix of the decedent’s estate and to compel the estate to transfer the decedent’s interest in the partnership to the Rubenfelds. The appellant objected to the amended petition on the ground, inter alia, that the decedent had been incompetent when the written agreement to sell his share of the plumbing company had been executed, and she moved for summary judgment dismissing the Rubenfelds’ claim. The Rubenfelds cross-moved for, inter alia, summary judgment.
It is well settled that, in order to obtain summary judgment, the movant must establish his defense or cause of action sufficiently to warrant a court’s granting judgment in his favor as a matter of law (see, Zuckerman v City of New York, 49 NY2d 557, 562). The party opposing summary judgment must then present admissible evidence establishing a triable issue of fact, and mere conclusory or unsubstantiated allegations or assertions are insufficient to oppose the motion (see, Zuckerman v City of New York, supra, 49 NY2d, at 562).
Here, the appellant did not provide any evidence to support
We have considered the appellant’s remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. Thompson, J. P., Sullivan, Friedmann and Krausman, JJ., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.