Evidence in Trust and Estate Litigation

Presenters

Christine Socha Czapek, Esq.

Borteck & Czapek, P.C., Florham Park

is a Partner in Borteck & Czapek, P.C. in Florham Park, New Jersey, where she concentrates her practice in estate and probate litigation, estate planning and administration, and guardianships.

Admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York, Ms. Czapek is a member of the Board of Consultors of the New Jersey State Bar Association Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section and has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Estate Planning Council of Northern New Jersey. She has been a member of the Morris County Bar Association and is a former Co-Chair of the Somerset County Bar Association’s Estate and Trust Practice Subsection. She is the recipient of several honors, including the Professional Service Award bestowed by the Raritan Valley Chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

Ms. Czapek received her B.A., magna cum laude, from Lafayette College and her J.D., cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law. She served as Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Peter E. Doyne, P.J.Ch. (Ret.), Bergen County.
(8/23)

Timothy M. Ferges, Esq.

McCarter & English, LLP, Newark

is a Partner in McCarter & English, LLP in the firm’s Newark, New Jersey, and New York City offices, where he concentrates his practice in trust and estate law, including trust and estate litigation, estate planning, and trust and estate administration. Mr. Ferges brings and defends breach of fiduciary duty claims and handles contested accounting proceedings, Will and trust construction matters, and other fiduciary disputes; and represents beneficiaries, individual fiduciaries, and large institutional trust companies as well as charitable and non-profit organizations in those disputes. He also counsels high-net-worth individuals and families in estate planning goals while integrating asset protection and minimizing exposure to income and transfer taxes.

Admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York, and before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Mr. Ferges has been a member of the American Academy of Attorney—CPAs and the American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, where he has served as Vice Chair of a committee in the Trust & Estates Litigation Group. He is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Fellows Institute of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and the New Jersey State Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section and the New York State Bar Association’s Trusts and Estates Law Section, where he has served on the Estate Litigation Committee. In addition to being an attorney, he is also a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Springpoint Senior Living Foundation.

Mr. Ferges has lectured for ICLE, the National Business Institute and other organizations, and his articles have appeared in the New Jersey Law Journal and other publications. He is the recipient of several honors.

Mr. Ferges received his B.S. from Rutgers University; his M.B.A. from Rutgers Business School; his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he served as Director of the Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Board and as a member of the Interscholastic Moot Court Board; and his LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law. He was Law Clerk to the Honorable Walter Koprowski, Jr. and the Honorable Renee Jones Weeks, Probate Part, Chancery Division, Superior Court of New Jersey.
(8/23)

Melissa B. Osorio Dibble, Esq.

Archer & Greiner PC, Voorhees

is a Partner in the Voorhees, New Jersey, office of Archer & Greiner P.C., where she concentrates her practice in estate and trust litigation, and has handled all varieties of probate, general equity and Orphans’ Court matters, including accountings, Will contests, breach of fiduciary duty actions, trust modifications and matters involving the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act and the Slayer Statute. She has represented a variety of institutions and individuals, including banks, universities, executors, trustees, beneficiaries of estates and trusts, and intestate heirs.

Admitted to practice in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Ms. Dibble is Past President of the Estate and Financial Planning Council of Southern New Jersey, Co-Chair of the Ethics and Malpractice Committee of the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section and has been Probate and Fiduciary Litigation Vice Chair of the ABA Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and a member of the Camden County Bar Association Probate & Trust Committee, New Jersey Women Lawyers and the New Jersey State, Pennsylvania, Burlington County and Philadelphia Bar Associations. She also serves on the Probate & Trust Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association and several community boards.

Ms. Dibble has lectured on estate and trust litigation topics to bar associations and other organizations, and her articles have appeared in the New Jersey Law Journal and other publications. She is a former Mock Trial Coach for Paul VI High School and the recipient of several honors, including Probate & Property Magazine’s Excellence in Writing Award.

Ms. Dibble received her B.A., cum laude, from Bryn Mawr College and her J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law-Camden, where she was President of the Association for Public Interest Law, articles editor for the Rutgers Journal of Law & Public Policy and a member of the Domestic Violence Clinic. She interned for the Honorable Joseph H. Rodriguez, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and was Law Clerk to the Honorable Richard H. Wells, Superior Court of New Jersey, Camden Vicinage.
(8/23)