Email crayradigan@rmfpc.com

Phone 516.663.6602 Fax 516.663.6802

vCard

• Education
  • Brooklyn Law School (J.D., 1961)
  • Brooklyn College (B.A., 1957)
• Practice Areas
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Estate Litigation
  • Trusts & Estates
• Publications
  • The Future of Mediation In Trusts and Estates
  • Thoughts on Court Consolidation: The Surrogate’s Court
  • Anatomy of a Probate Contest, Part 5: The Trial
  • Anatomy of a Probate Contest, Part IV: Objections in a Probate Proceeding
  • Freedom or Life: Does a Living Will Truly Serve Its Creator?
  • Anatomy of a Probate Contest Part 3: SCPA 1404 Examinations
  • Anatomy of a Probate Contest, Part 2: The Probate Petition and Jurisdiction
  • Anatomy of a Probate Contest, Part I: Planning to Avoid a Contest
  • Mediation as an Alternative To Estate Litigation
  • Partial Probate in New York
  • Presumption of Death: What Happens When an Individual Vanishes From Society?
  • The Facts and Misconceptions Between Undue Influence and Mental Capacity
  • Protecting Digital Assets in a Digital Age
  • Nominating a Guardian- Ad Litem Pursuant to SCPA Article 4
  • Time for a Second Look: Revisiting New York’s Proposed Directed Trust Statute
  • EPTL §2-1.5: How and When Can A Donee Acknowledge an Advancement?
  • Considerations When the Proposed Article 17 A Guardian May Not Be Suitable
  • Proposed New York Trust Code
  • Practical Concerns When Settling a Wrongful Death Action
  • Mortmain Statutes and Restrictions On Testamentary Gifts to Charities
  • Balancing Competing Concerns: Law Of Organ Donation and Transplantation
  • Article 17-A Guardianship Statute: Still Alive and Well
  • Recent Tax Court Ruling on Crummey Trusts
  • Estate Tax Apportionment and Ratable Contribution to Elective Share
  • Using a Power of Attorney To Conduct Litigation Strategy
  • Clarifying When and Whether Divorce Revokes Bequests
  • Third-Party Miscellaneous Proceedings in Surrogate’s Court
  • The Right of Election and Tax Apportionment
  • Statutory Inheritance Rights of a Posthumously Conceived Child (NYLJ, January 2015)
  • Filing A Bond by a Preliminary Executor
  • Interplay of Health Care Proxy and Living Will (New York Law Journal)
  • Changes to New York’s Estate and Trust Income Tax Laws (NYLJ, May 2014)
  • The Evolution of Prudence in Trustee Investing – New York Law Journal 7-9-13
  • Annual Exclusion Gifts to Minors (NYLJ, May 2013)
  • ‘Knox,’ the Prudent Investor and Fiduciary Duties – New York Law Journal, 9-18-2012
  • Need for Slayer Statute to Determine Effect of Homicide on Property Rights
  • New York Needs a Directed Trust Statute – New York Law Journal, 11/20/12
  • Extent of Surrogate’s Court Jurisdiction
  • Till Death Do Us Part: Post-Death Annulment of Marriage and the Right of Election – NYSBA Trusts and Estates Law Section Newsletter, Winter 2009
  • Article 17-A Proceedings Remain an Important Tool – New York Law Journal, 1/6/10
  • Privity and the Role of Limited Letters in Legal Malpractice Actions – New York Law Journal, 11/22/10
  • Applying Equitable Estoppel to Deathbed Marriages – New York Law Journal, 5/13/10
  • The Evolution of Trust Reformation and Modification Under New York Law – New York Law Journal, 7/9/12
  • Analyzing New York Estate Tax Law as Federal Proposals Loom
  • Duress: a Separate Objection to Probate
  • New Uniform Trust Code to Be Submitted to Legislature
  • Self-Dealing Fiduciaries: What Is the Appropriate Standard?
  • Self-Dealing Fiduciaries: What Is the Appropriate Standard? – New York Law Journal, 11/15/11
  • Rulings on Trustee’s Duty to Diversify: What Have We Learned?
  • Subject Matter Jurisdiction In the Surrogate’s Court – New York Law Journal, 3/14/11
  • Does New York Need a Trust Code? – New York Law Journal, 1/31/11
  • Advisory Committee: Recommendations on Right of Election Statute
  • Extraordinary Circumstances Required for Surrogate’s Court Advice and Direction

Judge C. Raymond Radigan, retired Nassau County surrogate, serves as counsel to the Trusts & Estates Department. He is chair of Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, P.C.’s Mediation Solutions Group. His practice focuses on estate and trust litigation, estate administration and estate planning.

He served as the judge of the Nassau County Surrogate’s Court for 20 years after he was first elected in 1981. Previously, he served the Nassau Surrogate’s Court as chief clerk and deputy chief clerk, and as a law assistant to Surrogate John D. Bennett. As chair of the Advisory Committee to the Legislature on the Estates Powers and Trusts Law, and the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act, he has been a driving force in the revision and update of trusts and estates law and practice in New York State.

C. Raymond is a special professor at Hofstra Law School, an adjunct professor at St. John’s University School of Law, and a former adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School and Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center. He has lectured extensively, delivering more than 100 lectures annually to a wide variety of organizations, including the Long Island Estate Planning Council, Cornell University Law School, New York Law School, Columbia Law School, Pace Law School, New York State Bar Association, City Bar of New York, the bar associations of Kings, Queens and Westchester counties, New York County Lawyers Association, and numerous other professional, business and social service organizations.

He is member of the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, Nassau County Bar Association and its Decedent Estate Committee, Long Island Lawyers Association, National College of Probate Judges, and New York State Bar Association Judicial Section where he served as president of the Judicial Council and as a former delegate to the House of Delegates. He is also former chair of the Executive Committee of the Surrogates Association, chair of the Advisory Committee to the Legislature on EPTL and SCPA and former chair of the Committee to Examine the Effectiveness of the Fiduciary Appointment Rule.

In addition, C. Raymond is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”), Knight of Malta, a former president of the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, and a member of the New York State Guard, where he served as colonel. He is also a Certified Arbitrator and Mediator by the American Arbitration Association.

Awards

• Estate Planning Council of Suffolk County, 1980.
• Surrogates Law Association, 1981.
• United Cerebral Palsy Association of Nassau County, 1985.
• Nassau Lawyers Association of Long Island, 1988.
• Great Neck Lawyers Association, 1989.
• Columbian Lawyers Association, 1990.
• Parkville Youth Organization, 1992.
• International Association for Financial Planning, 1992.
• Catholic Lawyers Guild of the Diocese of Rockville Center, Judiciary Award, 1992.
• New York State Bar Association House of Delegates, 1992.
• Nassau County for Community Service.
• Court Officers Benevolent Association, Fidelis Juri Award, 1997.
• Man of the Year, Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.
• Friends of the Arts.
• USA and Diabetes Association.

Publications

• Coauthor, New York Estate Administration, West Publishing.
• Surrogate’s Forms with Commentary for Computer Use, DatalexBender’s New York Practice, (SCPA-EPTL).
• Warren’s Heaton Surrogate’s Courts.

Articles

• Dead Man’s Statute, New York State Bar Journal.
• “Estate Practice Guide,” Nassau County Bar Association Bulletin.
• “Guidelines for Guardian ad Litem.”