Angelo M. Grasso

Phone: (212) 818-9240
Fax: (212) 818-1264
Email: agrasso@gss-law.com
vCard:

Angelo M. Grasso is a partner at Greenfield Stein & Senior, LLP, whose practice is in trusts & estates litigation and Article 81 guardianships. Angelo represents clients in a variety of proceedings in Surrogate’s Court, including will contests, discovery proceedings, contested accountings, and guardianship proceedings. Angelo has served as lead counsel on trials in Surrogate’s and Supreme Court, and argued appeals in the Appellate Division.

Angelo is an active member of the trusts and estates community, and is the Chair of the Trusts, Estates, and Surrogate’s Court Committee of the New York City Bar Association. Angelo is also active in the Trusts and Estates Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, where he serves as Secretary for the Section, and was previously the Section’s Treasurer, and chair of the Surrogate’s Court Committee and Legislation and Government Relations Committee. In 2020, he was named a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”). He is also a member of the Westchester County Bar Association.

Angelo is a frequent lecturer on trusts and estates law, and has presented to the Surrogate’s Association of New York, New York State Bar Association, New York City Bar Association, and Nassau County Bar Association on a variety of topics including probate litigation, contested accounting proceedings, ethics, cryptocurrency, and electronic discovery. He co-chaired the 2022 Annual Meeting, 2019 Spring Meeting, and 2014 program on Discovery Proceedings for the Trusts and Estates Law Section of the New York State Bar Association.

Angelo has authored numerous articles on current topics in trusts and estates law, and has published articles on cryptocurrency, electronic discovery in trusts and estates litigation, and ethics. He was a co-author of the New York State Bar Association’s amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States in the 2019 case North Carolina Department of Revenue v. The Kimberly Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust.

Prior to joining Greenfield Stein & Senior, Angelo was an associate at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, Mongelli, P.C., and Littman Krooks LLP. He joined Greenfield Stein & Senior in 2008, and became a member of the firm in 2016.

Angelo graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2002, where he was an associate editor of the American Criminal Law Review, and was admitted to practice in New York in 2003. He received his B.A. from Columbia University in 1999, where he wrote his senior thesis on the history of American anarchism. Angelo lives in Westchester with his wife Hilary, daughter Zoë, and goldendoodle Phoebe.

Articles and Publications

Co-Author of Amicus Curiae brief submitted by the New York State Bar Association to the Supreme Court of the United States in North Carolina Department of Revenue v. The Kimberly Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust, (2019)

Bitcoins, Blockchains and Bubbles: A Trusts & Estates Practitioner’s Guide to Cryptocurrency, New York State Bar Association Trusts and Estates Law Journal, Vol. 52, No. 2 (Fall 2019)

Electronic Discovery in Surrogate’s Court Litigation, Part II: Surrogate’s Court Decisions, New York State Bar Association Trusts and Estates Law Section Newsletter, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Fall 2018)

Electronic Discovery in Surrogate’s Court Litigation, Part I: An Introduction to Electronic Discovery Concepts, New York State Bar Association Trusts and Estates Law Section Newsletter, Vol. 50, No. 4 (Winter 2017)

Current Ethics Issues for Trusts & Estates Attorneys, New York State Bar Association Program “Conducting SCPA §1404 Discovery,” Fall 2017

Speaking Engagements and Presentations

  • Estate Planning in 2040 (NYSBA; Winter 2023)
  • Legislative Update (NYSBA; Fall 2022)
  • The COVID Zoom Zone: Execution and Litigation in a Virtual World (NYSBA; Winter 2021)
  • Remote Execution of Estate Planning Documents (NYSBA; Spring 2020)
  • Litigation and Electronic Evidence (NYSBA; Winter 2020)
  • Estate Litigation and Conducting SCPA 1404 Depositions (NYSBA; Fall 2019)
  • Cryptocurrency and the Modern Estate (Surrogate’s Association; Summer 2019)
  • Trusts Go to Washington: North Carolina Department of Revenue v. Kaestner Family Trust (NYSBA; Spring 2019)
  • Probate and Administration of Estates (NYSBA; Fall 2018)
  • Conducting SCPA §1404 Discovery (NYSBA; Fall 2017)
  • Electronic Discovery in Surrogate’s Court (Surrogate’s Association; Spring 2017)
  • The Spousal Right of Election (NYSBA; Spring 2017)
  • 14th Annual Sophisticated Trusts & Estates Institute (NYSBA; Fall 2016)
  • The Fiduciary’s Arsenal: Litigating Discovery Proceedings (NYSBA; Spring 2016)
  • Accounting Proceedings (NYSBA; 2014 and 2016)
  • A Matter of Perspective: Estate Planning to Avoid Litigation (Nassau County Bar Association; Fall 2015)
  • Estate and Trust Fiduciary Litigation (Strafford; 2013, 2014, 2015)
  • Discovery Proceedings (NYSBA; Spring 2014) (Program Co-Chair)
  • Pre-Death Transfers to Family Members (NYSBA; Spring 2014)
  • Estate Litigation (NYSBA; Spring 2011)

Selected Cases

  • Matter of Lawrence, 24 N.Y.3d 320, 998 N.Y.S.2d 698 (2014)
  • Matter of Durcan, 165 A.D.3d 585, 87 N.Y.S.3d 26 (1st Dep’t 2018)
  • Matter of Courant, 142 A.D.3d 614, 36 N.Y.S.3d 237 (2d Dep’t 2016)
  • Matter of Triestman, 137 A.D.3d 1049 27 N.Y.S.3d 626 (2d Dep’t 2016)
  • Matter of Lawrence, 106 A.D.3d 607, 965 N.Y.S.2d 495 (1st Dep’t 2013)
  • Matter of Parisi, 111 A.D.3d 941, 975 N.Y.S.2d 459 (2d Dep’t 2013)
  • Matter of Elyachar, 48 Misc. 3d 852, 14 N.Y.S.3d 869 (Sur. Ct. Westchester Co. 2015)
  • Matter of Lawrence, 33 Misc. 3d 1206(A), 939 N.Y.S.2d 741 (Sur. Ct. New York Co. 2011)
  • Matter of Kirk, 32 Misc. 3d 1205(A), 932 N.Y.S.2d 761 (Sur. Ct. New York Co. 2011)

Honors and Awards

Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC)
AV Rating, Martindale Hubbell
Super Lawyer, New York Super Lawyers magazine, 2018-2022
Rising Star, New York Super Lawyers magazine, 2014-2017

Education
J.D., Georgetown University Law Center (2002)
B.A., Columbia University (1999)

Bar Admission
New York

Court Admissions
Supreme Court of the United States
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
U.S.D.C., Southern District of New York
U.S.D.C., Eastern District of New York