Defending Personal Guarantors in the 2026 CRE Distress Wave

Joshua Wurtzel, Partner | Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP

Joshua Wurtzel is a partner at Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP, where his practice centers on high-stakes, complex commercial, real-estate, and commercial-lending litigation. He is known for an aggressive litigation approach and for developing creative, out-of-the-box solutions to his clients’ most pressing and difficult disputes. His real-estate finance work includes representing secured parties in U.C.C. foreclosures of equity pledges and mezzanine lenders in U.C.C. foreclosures and related litigation with commercial borrowers—directly relevant experience for distressed-debt and CRE default matters.

• Education & Credentials

Wurtzel earned his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, in 2013, where he graduated as valedictorian, was elected to the Order of the Coif, and served on the Cardozo Law Review. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Binghamton University in 2010, graduating summa cum laude with Highest Honors in Political Science and election to the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. He is admitted in New York and before the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Ninth Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

• Recognition & Leadership

Wurtzel has been selected to the New York Metro Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” list in Business Litigation each year from 2020 through 2025. He chairs the Legislative and Litigation Subcommittee of the Real Property Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association.

• Professional Involvement

In addition to his New York City Bar leadership role, Wurtzel is an active member of the Commercial & Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association and a steering committee member of the Binghamton University Harpur Law Council. He is a regular contributor to legal and real-estate publications including Law360, the New York Law Journal, and The Real Deal, and lectures on cutting-edge issues in the commercial real-estate sector. His published commentary has addressed U.C.C. foreclosures and the “qualified transferee” concept, CMBS market distress, COVID-era commercial leasing disputes, and force majeure and frustration-of-purpose doctrines.

• Experience

Wurtzel has served as lead trial counsel in jury and bench trials across the New York Commercial Division, federal court, and state court in Philadelphia. His representative results include a $5.8 million federal bench-trial judgment on fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and contract claims—affirmed by the Second Circuit—and a $2.6 million federal judgment enforcing a settlement term sheet. He has won summary judgment and appellate affirmances in the First Department, defended board members in shareholder-derivative actions in both federal and state court, and litigated securities matters, business-divorce disputes, and real-estate development conflicts. He has represented hotel and real-estate developers in disputes with partners and commercial lenders, secured parties and mezzanine lenders in U.C.C. foreclosures, and has maintained a pro bono practice including the representation of a Midtown chocolate shop in a commercial-lease dispute. Before joining Schlam Stone & Dolan, Wurtzel was an associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in its Securities Litigation and Corporate Governance group, and earlier served as an intern to the Honorable Kiyo A. Matsumoto of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Jon Alper, Founding Partner | Alper Law, PLLC

Jon Alper is the founding partner of Alper Law and a nationally recognized authority on asset protection, homestead law, and creditor defense. Admitted to the Florida Bar in 1976, he has concentrated on Florida asset protection law since 1991, focusing on the design and implementation of domestic and offshore legal structures. His practice applies Florida’s constitutional and statutory exemptions to strengthen clients’ negotiating positions and reduce their exposure to creditor claims. Notably, he maintains a pure law practice—he does not sell investments, insurance, or packaged asset protection programs.

• Education & Credentials

Alper holds an M.A. from Harvard University, a J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law, and a B.A. from Northwestern University. He has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1976.

• Recognition & Leadership

Alper is a frequently cited authority whose commentary on asset protection, homestead law, creditor defense, and bankruptcy has appeared across national media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, USA Today, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Kiplinger’s, and Dateline NBC, among numerous regional and trade publications. Over more than three decades, he has helped shape the development of Florida asset protection law—playing a key role in BankFirst v. UBS Paine Webber, Inc., which addressed the legitimacy of attorney-directed asset protection strategies under Florida law.

• Professional Involvement

Alper has been a regular presenter at Florida Bar seminars, with sessions addressing fraudulent transfers (2003), wealth protection ethics and liability concerning the bar, the client, and third parties (2005), asset protection strategy (2011), and case-law updates (2015). His published work includes contributions to the Florida Bar Journal, an asset protection chapter in the Florida Bar Health Law Handbook (2007), and ongoing asset protection articles. He is also a PSIA-certified ski instructor.

• Experience

For over thirty years, Alper has counseled clients on shielding personal and business assets from creditor claims through Florida’s exemption framework and through domestic and offshore planning vehicles, including offshore and Cook Islands trusts. His deep familiarity with homestead protection, salary and exemption statutes, fraudulent-transfer analysis, and the ethical dimensions of creditor-defense planning has made him a sought-after commentator and a steady advocate for clients facing significant creditor exposure. His practice reflects a singular professional focus: the lawful, ethical protection of client assets, measured by his clients’ long-term appreciation and satisfaction.

SESSION 1 – Bad-Boy Carveouts and Springing Recourse in CRE Loan Defaults | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

This session examines how bad-boy carveouts and springing full-recourse triggers convert capped guaranties into total exposure under New York law, analyzing the caselaw, trigger-event causation, and servicer-conduct defenses guarantors need as the 2026 CRE distress wave accelerates defaults.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Defending the Guarantor’s Personal Assets Against Creditor Attack | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

This session equips attorneys to defend guarantor personal assets against alter ego, reverse veil piercing, and fraudulent conveyance claims, deploying tenancy by the entirety, homestead exemptions, and charging order protections before and during lender collection in the 2026 CRE distress wave.