Taxation & Estate Planning

Same-Sex Marriage Probate Decision in New York

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

When I advise same-sex couples on their estate planning, one of the issues we have to discuss is how the couple is viewed by siblings and parents. This is important because, in the past, family members have sometimes been successful in overturning a gay or lesbian testator's Will in cases where the Will left everything to the testator's partner. That's why the New York case mentioned in this article is so interesting.

The Judge's opinion was that a same-sex couple that marries (in this case, the couple married in Canada) was a married couple for purposes of probate. Here, H. Kenneth Ranftle died with a spouse (J. Craig Leiby) and no children. As a result, Mr. Leiby is Mr. Ranftle's sole heir, and no notice must be given to Mr. Ranftle's three siblings. (I presume that heirship in New York works just as it does in Illinois -- if you are survived by a spouse or by children, then those individuals are your only heirs.)

If the Judge's opinion holds, then parents and/or siblings of a gay or lesbian who is married would have no standing to be involved in a probate, since they would be neither heirs nor legatees.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).