Cheryl L. Katz is a partner at Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP.  A member of the firm’s Trusts & Estates practice group, Ms. Katz’s practice includes trusts and estates litigation, estate and trust administration, and estate and asset protection planning.

As a Surrogate’s Court litigator, Ms. Katz handles will contests, contested trust and administration proceedings, removal proceedings, kinship proceedings, ejectment proceedings, fiduciary accounting proceedings, discovery proceedings, and other litigation related to trusts and estates.  As an estate planner and administration attorney, Ms. Katz handles the preparation of estate planning documents, including wills, living trusts, powers of attorney, health care proxies and living wills.  She is responsible for the preparation and filing of Surrogate’s Court petitions and applications, including petitions for probate or administration.  Ms. Katz also assists clients with the day-to-day administration of trusts and estates, including the collection of assets, distribution of assets and the preparation of accountings, both informal and judicial.

Ms. Katz is an active member of the trusts and estates community.  She is an appointed O.C.A. Liaison for the Trusts and Estates Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, Vice-Chair of the Section’s Legislation & Government Relations Committee (immediate past Chair), Co-Chair of Nassau County Bar Association Surrogate’s Court Committee, and is a member of the prestigious statewide Surrogate’s Court Advisory Committee.

Ms. Katz is a frequent lecturer on trusts and estates law and pending trusts and estates legislative proposals.  She has presented to the New York State Bar Association, including the Association’s House of Delegates, Nassau County Bar Association, Suffolk County Bar Association, and Hofstra Law School on a variety of topics including discovery proceedings, contested accounting proceedings, probate and administration litigation, and legislative proposals.  Ms. Katz has also been a frequent guest on radio talk shows and podcasts.  Additionally, Ms. Katz has written numerous articles for New York State Bar Association’s Trusts and Estates Law Journal and Young Lawyers Journal, Suffolk County Bar Association’s legal magazine, Long Island Business News, and is a contributing author to the “New York State Bar Association: Probate and Administration of New York Estates” publication which she worked on while chairing the annual Continued Learning Education Program on the topic in 2021.

Ms. Katz is certified to serve on the New York State Part 36 fiduciary list as a court-appointed Guardian ad litem to represent individuals who cannot appear in the Surrogate’s Court to protect their own rights and interests.

Ms. Katz graduated from Hofstra Law School where she was the Vice President of Hofstra’s Elder Law Society and was a member of Hofstra’s Trial Advocacy Association (Mock Trial) and Dispute Resolution Society.  She currently is a Chair of Hofstra Law’s Alumni Association’s Alumni Engagement Committee and is actively involved in Hofstra Law School’s Mentorship Program.  Ms. Katz earned a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Stony Brook University where she made the Dean’s List, a member of the Golden Key Honour Society and Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society.

Ms. Katz is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey.