Lacon's Estate, In re
| Decision Date | 08 May 1968 |
| Citation | 296 N.Y.S.2d 711,58 Misc.2d 869 |
| Parties | In re Corinne Ross LACON'S ESTATE. Petition of Frances R. KARLAN, Executrix of the Estate of Corinne Ross Lacon, Deceased, for an Order requiring Harvey Irwin Lacon, to surrender premises 2 Chesterwood Avenue, Mount Vernon, New York, and for other relief. Surrogate's Court, Westchester County |
| Court | New York Surrogate Court |
JAEGER, Surrogate.
Petitioner has moved to vacate a jury demand made by respondent on the ground that the relief sought by the petition and the counterclaim interposed thereto by respondent is equitable in nature and that this is not a proceeding in which the respondent has a constitutional right of trial by jury.
The executrix has petitioned this court to compel the decedent's surviving spouse to surrender and vacate certain real property of which the decedent was the record owner at the time of death and the respondent (husband) has by way of affirmative defense counterclaimed disputing the absolute record ownership of testatrix to the real property, alleging himself to be the 'sole and rightful and equitable owner entitled to the fee ownership' on the grounds that title to same, which apparently was at one time held in both respondent's and decedent's names jointly as tenants by the entirety and allegedly having been purchased with respondent's funds, was subsequently conveyed into the decedent's name alone 'for the sole purpose of insulating the equity in the home against the possible risks of respondent's (business) venture' and that title 'was to be held by testatrix in trust exclusively' and would be conveyed back to respondent 'upon demand pursuant to their express agreement and undertanding.'
Respondent further alleges that, pursuant to said 'express agreement and understanding * * * upon the prior death of the testatrix the fee title to said property would thereupon vest in respondent in the same manner and with the same force and effect as if same were in the names of both respondent and testatrix as tenants by the entirety.' Furthermore, respondent contends that by filing his notice of election herein, he will have some interest in the real property, independent of his claim to the fee. Accordingly, the relief sought in the counterclaim is for an affirmative judgment or decree declaring that the fee title to and sole ownership of the real property belongs to respondent and directing that an appropriate deed be executed and delivered to him by the executrix, and in the alternative, for a judgment or decree determining and fixing the 'proper and just equity of respondent' in said property and directing that an appropriate deed be executed and delivered by executrix to respondent, individually and as natural and general guardian of the infant beneficiaries under the will, for their respective shares in said property, as thus determined and fixed.
Respondent urges that by reason of CPLR 4101(2) pertaining to an action for determination of a claim to real property under Article 15 of the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law he is entitled to a jury trial with respect to his counterclaim.
The respondent is not entitled to a trial by jury of the issues raised by the pleadings before this court, for several reasons.
SCPA 502 governs with respect to jury trials in the Surrogates' Courts and grants the right in any proceeding in which any controverted question of facts arises as to which any party has a constitutional right to trial by jury. The State Constitution, Article I, Section 2, states that the right shall remain inviolate forever in all cases in which it has heretofore been guaranteed by constitutional provision.
The test most frequently applied in cases of this kind seems to be whether the relief sought would be of legal or equitable cognizance (Matter of Hamilton, 220 App.Div. 536, 222 N.Y.S. 73). An examination of both the petition and the counterclaim reveals that equitable relief is being requested by the parties.
Petitioner, in seeking to require one in possession of decedent's realty to place a fiduciary in possession is acting within the powers and authority given to her under § 11--1.1 of the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law. By so doing, petitioner has invoked the general equitable grant of jurisdiction of this court (Matter of Burstein's Estate, 153 Misc. 515, 275 N.Y.S. 601). While the executrix here undoubtedly could have chosen to bring her grievances before a court of general jurisdiction, she has properly come before this court with respect to a matter 'relating to the affairs of decedents.' SCPA 201(3).
As has been noted in cases such as this, where a party did not come to this forum initially, the ...
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