ESTATE OF CHARLES WINICK, Decedent

ESTATE OF CHARLES WINICK, Decedent (15/2576) — By decision dated June 29, 2016, in this probate proceeding, the court directed proponent as well as Joy S. Rosenthal, Esq., counsel for Laura Winick — decedent's daughter, sole legatee under the propounded instrument and the main beneficiary of a residuary trust created under it — to produce, for in camera inspection, copies of communications between proponent and Rosenthal for a period during which proponent, an attorney, drafted the propounded instrument as well as other testamentary instruments for decedent. Proponent and Raphael Winick — decedent's only other child — are engaged in pre-objection discovery pursuant to SCPA 1404, and Raphael moved for disclosure of these communications on the ground that they should have been included in the drafter's file.

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ESTATE OF CHARLES WINICK, Decedent (15/2576) — By decision dated June 29, 2016, in this probate proceeding, the court directed proponent as well as Joy S. Rosenthal, Esq., counsel for Laura Winick — decedent’s daughter, sole legatee under the propounded instrument and the main beneficiary of a residuary trust created under it — to produce, for in camera inspection, copies of communications between proponent and Rosenthal for a period during which proponent, an attorney, drafted the propounded instrument as well as other testamentary instruments for decedent. Proponent and Raphael Winick — decedent’s only other child — are engaged in pre-objection discovery pursuant to SCPA 1404, and Raphael moved for disclosure of these communications on the ground that they should have been included in the drafter’s file.

The court has examined the privilege log and the 230 pages containing email communications between proponent and Rosenthal, which Rosenthal produced for the court’s in camera review.¹ Upon such review, the court concludes that, with the exception of pages identified as “Rosenthal Emails 050″ and “Rosenthal Emails 051,” the communications need not be disclosed to Raphael. The communications are irrelevant to any of the issues in this probate proceeding and to any objection that could be asserted by Raphael, or are privileged communications not covered by the exception to the attorney-client privilege found in CPLR 4503 (b) (see Matter of Manas, NYLJ, Apr. 12, 1996, at 31, col 4 [Sur Ct, Bronx County]; see also Matter of Deim, NYLJ, Oct. 26, 1995, at 6, col 2 [Sur Ct, Suffolk County]; Matter of Centrone, NYLJ, Nov. 16, 1989, at 6, col 1 [Sur Ct, Bronx County]).

ESTATE OF CHARLES WINICK, Decedent

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