Surrogate’s CourtSurrogate AndersonESTATE OF MARGIT BORDAS, Deceased (94/2563/A) — This is an application to withdraw funds deposited with the Office of the New York State Comptroller for the benefit of Mrs. Otto Csondor (“Mrs. Csondor”). By Decree on Accounting dated August 21, 2006, the court directed the funds be distributed to Mrs. Csondor.Mrs. Csondor died intestate on August 19, 2002, in Budapest, Hungary. The funds were never claimed. Mrs. Otto Csondor was survived by her spouse, Mr. Otto Csondor, and her daughter, Kata Zsuzsanna Csondor.Under Hungarian law, no fiduciary is required and both distributees are entitled to their respective shares. Mr. Otto Csondor, however, has assigned his interest in the estate to Kata Zsuzsanna Csondor.Accordingly, after deducting fees and charges as provided by law, the State Comptroller is directed to pay the funds on deposit to Kata Zsuzsanna Csondor.This decision constitutes the order of the court.Dated: February 8, 2018ESTATE OF SHIRLEY A. WEST, Deceased (10/2218/E) — This proceeding commenced by a beneficiary under the will of Shirley West to compel the executor to account has been rendered moot by the filing of a receipt and release in which petitioner indicates that she has received in full the pecuniary bequest to which she was entitled and releases the executor for any accountability or liability to her. Accordingly, the proceeding is dismissed.This decision constitutes the order of the court.Dated: February 13, 2018ESTATE OF CHARLOTTE WAHLE, Deceased (13/4757/D) — This is an application to compel the former co-executor to account. At the call of the calendar, the court directed Dimitrios Fotopoulos to file, no later than February 20,2018, a sworn statement confirming that he has not collected any estate assets in his capacity as co-executor.This decision constitutes the order of the court.Dated: February 13, 2018ESTATE OF DANA JOSELOW A/K/A DONNA JOSELOW, Deceased (16/2173) — This is an uncontested proceeding to probate a will as an ancient document. Decedent executed the will on April 29, 1986 and died 30 years later on February 22, 2016. She was survived by her two sons as her sole distributees.To be admitted to probate as an ancient document, a will must be more than 20 years old, taken from a natural place of custody, and unsuspicious in nature (Matter of Tier, 3 Misc 3d 587). In addition, the court may give great weight to an attestation clause (Matter of Zipkin, 3 Misc 2d 396).Petitioner, decedent’s son, discovered the will in decedent’s home. The will appears regular on its face and was signed by decedent and witnessed by three individuals, who also signed an attestation clause. According to petitioner’s affirmation, all three witnesses have since died. He states that locating anyone who may be able to attest to their handwriting would be extremely difficult.Based on the foregoing, the court is satisfied that the requisite criteria for probating a will as an ancient document have been met. Accordingly, the instrument, dated April 29, 1986, is admitted to probate.Decree signed.Dated: February 9, 2018Surrogate MellaESTATE OF CARMEN MAIONE RIGG, Deceased (16/3718) — At the call of the January 9,2018 calendar, the court granted the unopposed motion of Barney J. Giannone of Lieb at Law, P.C., for leave to withdraw as counsel for Jack Prizzi in a proceeding to probate the will of Carmen Malone Rigg. The probate proceeding is stayed for 30 days to permit Mr. Prizzi the opportunity to retain new counsel.The clerk of the court is directed to mail a copy of this decision to Jack Prizzi.This decision, together with the transcript of the January 9, 2018 proceedings, constitutes the order of the court.Dated: February 13, 2018ESTATE OF EDWARD WALEGUR, Deceased (13/998/B/C) — In this proceeding, Petitioners, two siblings of decedent Edward Walegur, ask the court to revoke the Letters of Administration previously issued to Lyndsey Walegur. Petitioners challenge Ms. Walegur’s claim that she is decedent’s daughter. By decision dated November 15, 2017, the court held in abeyance petitioners’ motion for an order immediately revoking Ms. Walegur’s Letters for her failure to comply with an order of this court pending settlement discussions among the parties. After a conference with a court attorney-referee, however, the parties were unable to resolve their differences. The court now restores the motion and decides it.Petitioners’ request for an order revoking Ms. Walegur’s Letters of Administration for failing to file a bond, as directed by this court, in its Decision and Order dated August 24, 2017, is denied. The court’s written decision directed that, if Ms. Walegur “fail[ed] to file the bond by the imposed deadline [September 14, 2017] without previously providing a reasonable explanation in a sworn statement served on petitioners’ counsel and filed with the court, her letters shall be revoked and Matthew Baltrus shall be appointed administrator d.b.n.” The record reflects that Ms. Walegur filed an Affidavit with the court on September 13, 2017, which was also served on petitioners’ counsel, as directed, setting forth the steps she took to comply with the court’s directive, without success, and due to no fault of her own.1In addition, petitioners’ request to remove Ms. Walegur as fiduciary of decedent’s estate for failing to submit to DNA testing as directed by this court is also denied. The record reflects that Ms. Walegur appeared for genetic marker testing at LabCorp on November 10, 2017. The test results, which were revealed to the parties during the November 14, 2017 court appearance, were inconclusive.Accordingly, petitioners’ motion is denied in its entirety.This Decision constitutes the Order of the court.Clerk to notify.Dated: February 13, 2018
