Rudolph, Nancy J.
Practice Areas
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Biography
Ms. Rudolph is the head of our Trusts and Estates Practice Group. She is also a member of the Real Estate Practice Group, and a Part 146 approved Mediator for Surrogate’s Court disputes. Prior to joining Bleakley Platt in 2001, Ms. Rudolph was in private practice with a White Plains law firm, concentrating in litigation. She has also served in the public sector as an Assistant Attorney General in the New York State Office of the Special Prosecutor, handling white collar civil litigation related to Medicaid Fraud. In addition, she was an Administrative Hearing Officer with the New York State Racing and Wagering Board from 1980 to 1984. In her private practice from 1984 to 1987, Ms. Rudolph concentrated in estates, guardianship, real estate and litigation. From 1997 to 2001, Ms. Rudolph was a frequent lecturer to physicians and other professionals on methods to avoid lawsuits.
Currently, Ms. Rudolph concentrates in the area of trusts and estates litigation, mediation, estate administration, estate tax, guardianship. Ms. Rudolph appears on cases in the Surrogate’s Court, the Supreme Court, and before the United States District Courts. Ms. Rudolph represents beneficiaries and fiduciaries, both individual and corporate, in Surrogate’s Court proceedings involving probate, administration, lost wills, will contests, will construction, kinship, removal of fiduciaries, contested accountings, uncontested accountings, and in real estate transactions. Ms. Rudolph also represents individuals and corporate fiduciaries as trustees of supplemental or special needs trusts.
- New York Law School, J.D., 1977
- Manhattanville College, B.A., 1972
- New York
- U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
- On behalf of a corporate fiduciary client, obtained court approval of distributions from a restricted inter vivos supplemental needs trust for the benefit of an incapacitated twenty-one year old to substantially improve her health and well-being.
- Successfully represented a corporate fiduciary in two contested accounting trials before the Surrogate in Westchester County.
- Successfully represented a surviving spouse as the income beneficiary of a testamentary qualified terminable interest trust holding a substantial and very valuable art collection who sought to suspend the independent trustee for violations of the statute.
- Represented beneficiaries in a will construction proceeding, resulting in a favorable interpretation in a Surrogate’s Court decision and the ultimate restoration of their annual distributions.
- Negotiated a settlement of a contested accounting for a corporate fiduciary that faced allegations of failure to diversify estate assets under the Prudent Investor Act.
- Successfully represented legal guardians in negotiating the resignation of a testamentary trustee of a supplemental needs trusts.
- Negotiated a settlement for a corporate fiduciary in a construction proceeding on the validity of an amendment to a trust.
- Recovered excessive legal fees for estate beneficiaries with respect to a protracted estate administration.
- New York State Bar Association and New York State Bar Association Foundation, Fellow; Member, Trust and Estates Section
- Westchester County Bar Association, Trust & Estates Executive Committee
- Westchester Women’s Bar Association, Former Co-Chair of the Trusts & Estates Section
- Best Lawyers – 2017 to present for Trust & Estates Litigation
- New York Super Lawyers, 2013 to present
- Selected as among the “Top Attorneys in Westchester” by Westchester Magazine (October 2014 to present)
- Chosen as among the “Top Women Attorneys in Metro New York” by the New York Times Magazine (May 2014 to March 2022)
- Member – Office of Court Administration’s Surrogate’s Court, Westchester County – Mediation Working Group
- Completed NYSBA Part 146 Mediation and Advanced Mediation Training in Trusts, Estates and Elder Law litigation.
- Distinguished Service Award at VNSW’s Foundation’s Spring Benefit Gala (May 2018)
- Visiting Nurse Services Westchester (VNSW) and Group Board Member, 2013 – 2018
- VNSW – Chair of the Finance Committee and Member of the Governance Committee, 2013 – 2017
- Member, Appointed by Chief Administrative Judge A. Gail Prudenti, to the New York State’s Unified Court System’s Pro Bono Scholars’ Task Force, 2014 – 2015.
- Speaker at New York State Bar Association CLE: Probate and Administration of Estates, November 18, 2014, Westchester County, Topics included: Decedent’s Assets and Liabilities, Non-Testamentary Instruments, Inter-Vivos Trusts, Collection and Valuation Assets, Planning the Administration, Dealing with Creditors, Insolvent Estates, Spouse’s Right of Election, Disqualification as Surviving Spouse, Exempt Property, Renunciations and Disclaimers, Payment and Satisfaction of Testamentary Dispositions, Applications for Partial Payment of Commissions, Applications for Advice and Direction, Inventory of Assets and Foreign Property.
- Speaker at New York State Bar Association CLE: Practical Skills – Probate and the Administration of Estates, December 10, 2012, Tarrytown, Westchester County, Topic: Special and Alternative Forms of Letters and Proceedings.
- Speaker, CLE jointly sponsored by Westchester County Bar and Westchester Women’s Bar Association, June 20, 2013 Topic: Revocable Trusts – Will Substitute: Litigation.
- Speaker, CLE, Westchester County Bar Association – Select Issues in Fiduciary Litigation, June 7, 2010, Topic: Prudent Investor and Fiduciary Liability.
- Panel Presenter, Westchester County Bar Association CLE on Mediation in the Surrogate’s Court, Westchester County, April 3, 2019.
- Presenter at various mediation programs sponsored by Bar Associations and by New York State Office of Court Administrations, Part 146 Mediation Training Programs for Surrogate’s Courts.