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Matter of Samuel
Matter of Samuel 2025 NY Slip Op 34649(U) December 17, 2025 Surrogate's Court, New York County Docket Number: File No. 2016-2735 Judge: Rita Mella Cases posted with a "30000" identifier, i.e., 2013 NY Slip Op 30001(U), are republished from various New York State and local government sources, including the New York State Unified Court System's eCourts Service. This opinion is uncorrected and not selected for official publication.
ENTERED SURROGATE'S COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK DEC 1 7 2025 COUNTY OF NEW YORK -------------------------------------------------------------------------x DAfA ENTAY DEPT Nev, Y•Jr" Coe1·1!, s~rrcg2ittt'f.l Court In the Matter of Petition of Percy Samuel and Shao Ling Teng to Probate an Instrument Dated October 13, 2015, as the Will of
KWENCHEN, DECISION and ORDER File No.: 2016-2735 Deceased.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------x In the Matter of the Petition of Lingzhen Ji to Probate an Instrument Dated December 28, 2014, as the Will of
KWENCHEN, File No.: 2016-2735/H
Deceased.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------x
MELL A, S.:
The court considered the following papers on this motion to withdraw as counsel:
Papers Considered Numbered
Order to Show Cause (OSC) Motion of Charlotte C. Lee, Esq. and William X. Zou, Esq., to Withdraw as Counsel, Affirmations of Charlotte C. Lee, Esq. and William X. Zou, Esq., with Exhibits 1, 2, 3
At the call of the calendar on November 18, 2025, the court granted the motion of co-counsel
to withdraw in these two probate proceedings in the estate of K wen Chen. One proceeding is by
Percy Samuel (Co-Preliminary Executor) and Shao Ling Teng to probate an instrument dated October
13, 2015, and the other is by Lingzhen Ji (Co-Preliminary Executor) to probate an instrument dated
December 28, 2014. Charlotte Lee, Esq., and Bill Zou & Associates PLLC by William X. Zou, Esq.,
(Lee and Zou) moved by order to show cause to withdraw as co-counsel to Co-Preliminary Executor
Lingzhen Ji and other parties, namely, Shao Wu Teng, Shao Ping Teng, Shao Wen Teng, Xue Ming
Teng, and Tao Teng (together, the Clients), pursuant to CPLR 32l(b)(2). [* 1]
Here, the record reflected a lack of communication as between Lee and Zou and their Clients
sufficient to establish good cause for co-counsel's withdrawal (see Rule l.16[c][7]; Rule l.16[c][12],
22 NYCRR 1200; Bokv Werner, 9 AD3d 318 [1st Dept 2004]; Tartaglione v Tiffany, 280 AD2d 543
[2d Dept 2001]). Further, none of the Clients requested to appear on the return of the motion before
the court or otherwise responded to or opposed the motion, which was served on each of them. It is
therefore:
ORDERED that the motion of Charlotte C. Lee, Esq., and Bill Zou & Associates PLLC to
withdraw as co-counsel to Lingzhen Ji, to Shao Wu Teng, to Shao Ping Teng, to Shao Wen Teng, to
Xue Ming Teng, and to Tao Teng in the above-captioned proceedings is granted; and it is further
ORDERED that the above captioned proceedings are stayed for 30 days after the Clerk of the
Court's service by First-Class Mail International mail of this Decision and Order as follows, to:
(1) Shao Wu Teng (or Teng Shao Wu) Room 102, 80 Ninghai Li Liangxi District Wuxi 214011 Jiangsu CHINA
(2) Shao Wen Teng (or Teng Shao Wen) Room 503, 138 Caozhang Xincun Ying Long Street Liangxi District, Wuxi 214000 Jiangsu CHINA
(3) Xue Ming Teng (or Teng Xue Ming) Room 401, 2nd Unit, 4 th Floor Qian Tang Jiang Road Tai Xiang Xiao Qu Urumqi 830000 Xinjiang CHINA
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(4) Tao Teng (or Teng Tao) Ganghanju 141 Mingzhu Road, Zhicheng Street Changxing Huzhou 313100 Zhejiang CHINA
(5) Shao Ping Teng (or Teng Shao Ping) Room 103, 73 rd Building, Donggang Xincun Residential Quarter Industrial Park District Suzhou 215021 Jiangsu CHINA
And by First Class Mail to:
(6) Lingzhen Ji (or Ji Ling Zhen), 75 Baxter Street, Apt. 29, New York, NY 10013;
(7) Petitioners Percy Samuel and Shao Ling Teng, to their counsel - (a) Jules Haas, Esq., 488 Madison Avenue, Suite 1120, New York, NY 10022 and by EMAIL to attomey.haas845@gmail.c om; and (b) Percy M. Samuel, Esq., Percy M. Samuel, PC, 591 Astor Street, Elmont, NY 11003 and by EMAIL to pmsamuel@percymsamuel .com;
(8) Movant - Charlotte Lee, Esq, 277 Broadway, Suite 400, New York, NY 10007-2035 and by EMAIL to clee@charlottelee.com; and
(9) Movant - William Zou, Esq., Bill Zou & Associates PLLC, 136-20 38 th Avenue, Suite 10D, Flushing, NY 11354 and by EMAIL to zoulawoffice@yahoo.com;
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and it is further
ORDERED that if new counsel does not file with the court and serve on all other appearing
parties a notice of appearance together with an authorization by the party to appear in this matter
within the 30-day period after service of this Decision and Order on each of them, each such party
shall be considered self-represented (pro se) to the extent that they appeared in the above-captioned
matters and shall promptly provide their phone numbers and email contact information, if any, to the
court and other appearing parties (see CPLR 321 [c]).
This constitutes the order of the court.
Dated: December 17, 2025
S~ATE
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