Connors & Sullivan, Attorneys at Law, PLLC

Focus and practice areas

Estate planning and elder law form the center of this Brooklyn-based firm's work. Connors & Sullivan also handles probate and administration, estate litigation, residential real estate closings, tax matters, and business formation. The firm states that its attorneys have served New York City residents for more than three decades.

The estate planning work covers wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare proxies. It extends to special needs trusts and deed transfers. A will sets out who inherits. Powers of attorney let a named person handle finances when the client cannot, and healthcare proxies do the same for medical decisions. A special needs trust can hold money for a person with a disability while keeping their eligibility for public benefits in place. These documents decide who can act for a client and who receives property after a death, so the breadth here has practical value for older clients and their families.

Elder law is the firm's other main area. The attorneys advise on guardianships and Medicaid eligibility, and they help clients plan for nursing home and long-term care costs. As a reviewer, I read the pairing of elder law with estate planning as a fit for clients whose care needs and inheritance questions arrive at the same time.

The people on the roster

Connors & Sullivan lists nine attorneys. The roster includes Michael N. Connors, Justin P. Daley, Nicole A. Donnelly, Ismael "Mel" M. Jose, Yevgeniy (Eugene) Krivulets, William O'Connor, Harris Papas, Mark T. Paul, and Daniela D. Campoli.

Campoli, an associate attorney, works from the Brooklyn office. She earned her J.D. at Pace University School of Law and a B.S. at St. John's University, and she is admitted to practice in New York. She speaks Italian, which can help clients who are more comfortable in that language.

Her work reaches across the firm's main areas. She assists clients with estate planning and trust preparation, and she handles estate litigation and administration. That litigation covers will contests, probate disputes, inheritance disputes, and trust litigation in Supreme Court and Surrogate's Court. She also advises on Medicaid planning and represents clients at Medicaid Fair Hearings. Before joining Connors & Sullivan, Campoli worked at Parker Waichman, a personal injury and medical malpractice firm.

Offices across the city

The firm keeps five offices in New York City. The main one is in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The others are in Midtown Manhattan, the Queens neighborhoods of Middle Village and Bayside, and Staten Island.

Those five locations put a meeting place within reach in four of the city's five boroughs. Estate and elder law matters often need documents signed and witnessed in person, so a nearby office has real convenience for clients who prefer to meet close to home.

Real estate, business, and tax work

Beyond estate matters, Connors & Sullivan handles residential real estate closings. A closing is the point where a home changes hands, and a lawyer at the table reviews the contract, checks title, and confirms that the money and the deed move as they should. The firm handles these closings for buyers and sellers of homes, which lines up with its deed transfer work on the estate side.

The firm also helps with business formation, which covers setting up a company and choosing its legal structure, and it advises on tax matters. For a client selling a home, forming a small business, or settling an estate, having these services in one place lets them keep a single matter with one firm.

Seminars, radio, and access

Connors & Sullivan offers a free initial consultation. The firm also holds free seminars and runs a live radio show as part of its outreach to the community.

Through public seminars and a radio program, the firm spends time explaining estate and elder law to a general audience. In my opinion, that kind of outreach helps people who find these topics hard to approach on their own, and it gives the firm a way to meet clients before a legal need becomes urgent.

How estate and elder law matters proceed

Estate planning at a firm like this usually starts with a conversation about assets, family, and wishes, then moves to drafting the documents that carry those wishes out. Trusts, including special needs trusts, hold assets for a beneficiary under terms the client sets. Deed transfers move title to real property, often as one piece of a wider plan.

Probate and administration come after a death. Probate is the court process that proves a will and lets the named executor act. Administration covers estates where there is no will, and the court appoints someone to gather assets, pay debts, and distribute what remains. Both run through Surrogate's Court, and both can involve paperwork, deadlines, and court appearances that a lawyer handles on the family's behalf.

Elder law and Medicaid planning follow their own steps. Medicaid eligibility turns on income and asset limits, and planning works toward meeting those limits while keeping needed care in place. When an application is denied, a Medicaid Fair Hearing gives the applicant a chance to challenge the decision before a state hearing officer. Guardianship cases go before a court that decides whether a person can manage their own affairs and, if they cannot, who should step in.

Estate litigation is the contested side of this work. Will contests, probate disputes, and trust litigation move through Surrogate's Court, the New York court for wills and estates, and sometimes through Supreme Court. These cases can turn on questions of mental capacity, undue influence, or whether a document was signed correctly. Campoli takes on these matters in both Surrogate's Court and Supreme Court.