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Your Trusted Advisor and Advocate

Your Trusted Advisor and Advocate

ABOUT ME

I am an attorney who has been practicing in New York State since 1976, primarily in New York City and surrounding counties.

I have concentrated on estate planning, elder planning, estate administration and practice in the Surrogate’s Court (the court with jurisdiction over estates).

I am a resident of the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. I am a former president of my synagogue and long-time member of its board of trustees.

Mark S. Hamburgh ATTORNEY AT LAW

ABOUT ME

I am an attorney who has been practicing in New York State since 1976, primarily in New York City and surrounding counties.

I have concentrated on estate planning, elder planning, estate administration and practice in the Surrogate’s Court (the court with jurisdiction over estates).

I am a resident of the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. I am a former president of my synagogue and long-time member of its board of trustees.

Mark S. Hamburgh
ATTORNEY AT LAW

Career Highlights

Former co-chair of New York County Lawyers’ Association Section on Estates, Trusts and Surrogate’s Court Practice

Former chair of Trusts and Estates Mentoring Circle of New York City Bar Association Small Law Firm Committee

Participated in the drafting of Section 2307-a of the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act, which regulates commissions of attorney-executors

Member of Trusts and Estates Section of New York State Bar Association

Member of Elder Law and Special Needs Section of New York State Bar Association and Committee on Legal Problems of the Aging of the New York City Bar Association

Participated in the drafting of the original New York State Bar Association standard contract for the sale/purchase of a cooperative apartment

Have served as court appointee in difficult probate, accounting, construction, wrongful death, elective share and kinship proceedings and in mortgage foreclosure actions and was referee to compute amount due in vigorously contested multi-million dollar commercial mortgage foreclosure

GLOSSARY

If you are interested in the plain English meanings of the legal terms relevant to my below listed practice areas, just send me your name and email address and I will provide it to you.

PRACTICE AREAS

Estate Planning and
Advance Directives

This is the basic personal planning that every individual should engage in. There are two aspects of this planning, and they are interrelated: A.) Disposition of your assets, either by gifts during lifetime or upon death and B.) Protecting yourself if you become incapacitated while alive. To accomplish these objectives you and I will discuss your personal and family situation, examine your finances, discuss your wishes and objectives, and I prepare:

  • A Last Will and Testament
  • Any trust document
  • Designation of Guardian of child(ren) (if necessary)
  • Detailed beneficiary designations for life insurance policies, annuity contracts, pension plans, IRA accounts
  • Health Care Proxy
  • Living Will (if you desire one)
  • Power of Attorney
  • Designation of Guardian for you (for use if needed)

Estate
Administration

REPRESENTING ESTATE FIDUCIARIES

If there is a will, I bring the proceeding for its admission to probate and appointment of the executor. If there is no will, I bring the proceeding for the appointment of an administrator.

Then I represent executors and administrators in the fulfillment of their duties in administering the estate.

REPRESENTING BENEFICIARIES OF ESTATES
I represent parties to estates in disputes with the executor or administrator.

OTHER SURROGATE’S COURT PROCEEDINGS

I represent clients and assist other attorneys on a variety of other Surrogate’s Court matters. Examples are below:

ANCILLARY PROBATE OR
ADMINISTRATION PROCEEDINGS
Necessary if an executor or administrator was appointed in the state outside New York in which the decedent was domiciled, but the estate has certain types of assets in New York
CONSTRUCTION PROCEEDINGS
Have the court construe the meaning of unclear language in the will
REFORMATION PROCEEDINGS
Have the court edit the will so that it properly expresses the intention of the testator
DISCOVERY PROCEEDINGS
Brought to recover estate assets from a person wrongfully in possession of them
RIGHT OF ELECTION PROCEEDINGS
Have the court enforce a surviving spouse’s right to obtain one-third of the deceased spouse’s estate
WRONGFUL DEATH COMPROMISES
Have the court allocate monetary damages awards between wrongful death and decedent’s pre-death pain and suffering