- Divorce
- Premarital AgreementHer practice includes preparing various documents, including wills, trusts, prenuptial agreements, real estate contracts, leases, operating agreements, and shareholder agreements. Victoria also assists the transactional practice by conducting research and following legislation affecting the group’s practice areas.
- Corporate LawAs part of the firm’s business formation and sales practice group, Christine works with various business entity clients, including corporations, limited liability companies and partnerships, counseling them from the initial formation of the entity and assisting with on-going corporate governance. When clients are interested in selling their business or purchasing an existing business, Christine handles all aspects of the transaction from negotiating the terms through closing the deal.
- Business Formation
- Business DisputesThe firm’s litigation team also represents individuals and organizations when controversies arise between businesses, employers and employees, shareholders, partners, joint venturers, and members of LLCs and associations. Such disputes typically include commercial contract disputes, shareholder derivative claims, judicial dissolutions, accountings, and enforcement of corporate and partnership agreements and association covenants.
- Business TransactionsHer broad-ranging real estate practice includes both simple and complex residential and commercial transactions. She assists clients with purchases and sales of existing and new homes, leasing of homes, including Hamptons summer rentals, purchasing or leasing property for the start-up or expansion of their businesses, leasing property to farmers, cellular telephone companies, and other businesses, negotiation of construction contracts, option agreements, easements, tax-free or like-kind exchanges, and financing for purchases, from both the purchaser’s side and the farm lending side. Ms. Di Talia handles sales of subdivisions for development, including both undeveloped lots and properties with new homes constructed thereon. Her real estate practice also include transfers of farm and other properties for conservation and charitable purposes through outright sales of fee title to local municipalities, sales of development rights, and the imposition of conservation easements and enhanced conservation easements.
- Limited Liability CompaniesOur firm counsels individuals and entities with respect to planning for, forming, and operating business corporations, not-for-profit corporations and foundations, partnerships, limited liability companies, and joint ventures. The firm assists clients in determining an appropriate organizational plan, as well as implementing that plan by counseling clients as to compliance with legal requirements and by drafting business documents, shareholder and partnership contracts, operating agreements, and by-laws. When businesses or business assets are sold, the firm represents parties by negotiating and completing the transfers. We also advise homeowner entities, such as cooperatives and condominiums and homeowner associations (HOAs), as to the legal administration of their affairs.
- Construction ContractsEHA has been involved in negotiating and drafting real estate contracts and leases, investigating titles, and closing transactions on “Hamptons” and “North Fork” properties for almost five decades. Unique issues can arise in any real estate transaction on Eastern Long Island, where properties can be affected by a site-specific regulatory and title issues. Our attorneys represent sellers, purchasers, lenders, developers, landlords and tenants in connection with various types of residential and commercial real estate transactions, including contracts of sale, construction contracts, option agreements, rights of first refusal, mortgages, leases, easements, development rights sales, and tax-deferred exchanges. We also act as “local counsel” when New York City and other out-of-town attorneys need assistance dealing with the unique title and zoning issues affecting East End properties. If transactions become contentious, our litigation attorneys are available to protect our clients’ claims.
- Employment DiscriminationKim A. Smith graduated summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Stony Brook with a B.A. in political science. She received her J.D. cum laude from Fordham University School of Law, where she was the Notes and Articles editor of the Urban Law Journal.Kim started her career as an associate with the New York City firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, LLP in 2003 and exclusively represented a major banking institution from 2012 through 2013. Kim also practiced with other Long Island firms before joining EHA in 2015.Throughout her career, Kim’s practice has covered a broad range of commercial and general litigation matters, including contract, employment, insurance and real property disputes. She has also led internal investigations arising from alleged violations of various laws and regulations, from employment discrimination to banking. In 2009, Kim was on the trial team that defended a major financial services company in a five-week jury trial where the plaintiffs alleged violations of the federal securities laws. The jury exonerated the defendants as to the majority of the allegedly false statements and those that remain are the subject of ongoing proceedings. This case is one of only a handful of securities class action litigations to be tried to a jury verdict since the enactment of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act in 1995.
- Real Estate LitigationEHADP’s attorneys have participated in many of these title disputes, representing landowners and title companies in “quiet title” actions, boundary disputes between neighbors over their shared property lines, “adverse possession” and “prescriptive easement” cases, disputes over the use and scope of rights of way, contests over riparian rights and title to lands affected by erosion or accretion, and trespass claims. With our collective experience reviewing thousands of titles and title questions involving Eastern Long Island properties, we are often asked to serve as local counsel to attorneys less familiar with the region’s unique title issues.
- Construction LitigationLisa’s real estate practice includes representing sellers and buyers of both commercial and residential real estate, from reviewing broker listing agreements and preparing and negotiating contracts of sale through the closing of the transaction, along with reviewing and negotiating construction agreements and commercial and residential leases. She has also represented clients in the purchase and sale of underwater land.
- Real Estate TransactionsEsseks, Hefter, Angel, Di Talia & Pasca, LLP engages in the general practice of law, but our practice areas are limited to civil litigation, real estate transactions and planning, zoning and environmental law, wills, trusts, and estates, business planning and administration, and related areas. For a more detailed explanation of the firm’s practice, please see the descriptions of each of the individual practice areas...
- Easement
- Land Use and ZoningAnthony has received Martindale Hubbell’s highest “AV” rating from its peer review process, as well as its selection as a Top Rated Lawyer in Litigation, Land Use and Zoning, and Appellate Law. Since 2014, he has been included in Thompson-Reuter’s list of NY Metro Area “SuperLawyers.”
- Landlord-Tenant Disputes
- Estate PlanningOn Eastern Long Island, real estate planning and development can be an unusually complex process involving multiple levels of zoning, environmental, and other regulatory land-use applications and permits. Some of the required approvals can include
- WillsWhen controversies have arisen, EHA’s attorneys have represented these parties in connection with the ensuing litigation, such as will contests, will and trust construction proceedings, accountings, fiduciary claims, and related court proceedings. When appropriate, the firm has obtained the judicial appointment of guardians for incapacitated persons and minors.
- Trusts
- Power of Attorney3. Power of Attorney – While a health care proxy allows an agent to make treatment-related decisions on a patient’s behalf, a power of attorney allows an agent to make certain financial and legal decisions on a living person’s (referred to as the “principal”) behalf. In the event of a loss of competency or an emergency, such as a broken arm that prevents writing, or an instance where travelling outside the state or country prevents the principal from being able to handle a financial or legal situation, an agent can step in and ensure that decisions are made in the principal’s best interests. Without a power of attorney, managing the principal’s financial and legal affairs can require the time-consuming and costly effort of going to the courts and asking to be appointed as guardian. The New York form of Power of Attorney was revised in 2019, and some financial institutions may resist accepting old forms that they may consider outdated. The new form combines the previously separate gifting provisions with the basic form provisions. These provisions can be especially important when it applies to qualifying for benefits, including Medicaid or financial assistance programs.
- Probate
- ForeclosureBW Patio, LLC v. Barnet, Index No. 202160/2022. The case was a follow-up to a prior mortgage foreclosure action in which the underlying loans were found to have matured in 2011. In the 2022 action, the plaintiff was seeking payment on personal guarantees, plus millions in interest. The defendants moved to dismiss the action on several grounds, including that the action was brought beyond the six-year statute of limitations. Justice Hudson agreed with the defendants and found that the loans matured in 2011, more than eleven years before the action was commenced on the guarantees, and that the action, having been commenced more than six years after the maturity date, was “time-barred.” Justice Hudson rejected the plaintiff’s attempt to alter the plain meaning of the parties’ agreements through extrinsic evidence and also found the remaining claims failed to state a viable cause of action.
- Tax LawEHA represents individuals and families in connection with their estate and tax planning, as well as assisting them with planning for long-term care. Planning for elder years and death is often a difficult task. EHA enjoys a reputation of maintaining long-term relationships with our clients and their families and assisting them in passing family-owned properties, businesses and assets from one generation to the next. After helping clients sort through the array of available planning options and working where appropriate with our clients’ accountants, financial planners and advisors, our attorneys will prepare the necessary documents in order to achieve our clients’ immediate and long-term goals. Some of the estate and tax planning services offered include drafting wills, creating various types of trusts, preparing living wills, and creating family limited partnerships and LLCs.