New York Criminal Lawyer Blog
Probate laws are specific about timed deadlines. In New York, Surrogate’s Court Act §59(2) provides that timely service of a probate citation to appear or produce documents must be served in a certain period of time. The time that is allowed for a document to be produced once a person has been served with the citation depends on the location of the service. The time that is detailed takes into consideration the fact that the person who is served must also make arrangements to appear in court. Therefore, a New York Criminal Lawyer said the service time allotment for a citation for probate court depends on whether the counties are touching. If the counties touch on any side, then the person who is receiving the citation is given seven days to appear in court. If the county where the citation is served does not touch the county where it originated on any side, then the statute declares that the respondent must have ten days at minimum to respond to the citation.
On April 23, 1963, a woman who lived in Richmond County was served with a copy of a citation to respond to probate court in eight days. The woman filed a motion to extend the time that she is given to respond and also to dismiss the first citation to respond based on the fact that she was not provided adequate time to respond to the citation. The court looked at the history of New York as a colony in order to determine the woman’s standing. When New York was just a colony, it was divided into counties. The boundaries of these counties have been refined over years of legal enactments. In the case of this particular woman, she lives in Richmond County and the surrogates court that sent her the citation is located in New York county. The two counties do not touch on any side. A Westchester County Criminal Lawyer said the only county that borders Richmond County is the county of St. George. Therefore, it is not reasonable that the woman was only given eight days to respond to the citation. The citation should have had a return date that was at least ten days later than the date of service of the citation.
Since, the woman was not given the correct amount of time to prepare and return service that was required on the citation, the court agreed with her council that the citation should be dismissed. She would be issued a citation that was corrected and that would provide her with a full ten days in which to prepare her return. While it may not seem like a deciding factor in any situation that three days could alter the outcome of anything, when it comes to legal actions, it is important to ensure that the laws are being followed to the letter. If a court is allowed to shorten the number of days that are allowed to a person before they must return the citation, then they are preventing that person from taking all of the time that they are allowed by law to take in order to prepare their case. Preventing a person from being allowed to prepare their case, is a serious offense. A Suffolk County Criminal Lawyer said the American jurisprudence system is designed to ensure that everyone has the time to present the case that is critical to their legal standing. When a court shortens that time, then that person is not provided with adequate time to prepare their case. This court took that infraction seriously and did not allow that court to change the rules of the game to suit their particular purpose. Anyone who is required to respond to a probate citation is permitted to use all of the time that the statute allows them to prepare their case.
At Stephen Bilkis & Associates with its probate Lawyers, have convenient offices throughout New York and the metropolitan area. Whether you have been charged with burglary, a drug crime of theft, our lawyers can provide you with advice to guide you through difficult situations. Without an estate attorney, you could lose precious compensation to help your family.