Careful planning for your family, whatever you've built.
From a simple will to a multi-trust plan for a substantial estate, I'll help you put the right plan in place and explain every part of it in plain English.
A good plan makes things easier for the people you love.
An estate plan decides who receives what you've built, who makes decisions if you can't, and how much of it goes to taxes, courts, and delays. Done well, it spares your family stress and expense at the hardest time.
Some clients have significant wealth and complex questions. Others have a home, savings, and children they want to take care of. Both deserve the same care, and in either case you work with me directly.
Estate planning services
Wills
Clear, carefully drafted wills that name the right people, provide for your family, and hold up when they are needed.
Revocable Living Trusts
Stay in full control while keeping your estate out of probate, here and in any other state where you own property.
Irrevocable Trusts
The trust most often used for Medicaid planning and asset protection, and also for estate tax planning.
New York Estate Tax Planning
New York's exemption is $7.35 million in 2026, and estates just over it can lose the exemption entirely. Planning can protect your family from that "cliff."
Property in More Than One State
Own a home in Florida or elsewhere? A revocable trust can avoid a second, "ancillary" probate in the other state.
Second Marriages & Blended Families
Provide for a spouse while making sure children from a prior marriage are protected.
Supplemental Needs Trusts
Leave an inheritance to a family member with a disability without affecting their government benefits.
Powers of Attorney & Health Care Proxies
Choose who will handle your finances and medical decisions if you can't, with documents drafted to actually work.
Reviewing & Updating Older Plans
Laws and families change. I review existing wills and trusts, and restructure or replace trusts when they no longer fit.
First, what a trust actually is.
People often come in saying, "A friend told me I need a trust." That may be right, but it helps to know what a trust is and what it does before deciding.
A trust is simply a legal arrangement that holds property for the people you choose. You name a trustee to manage it, often yourself at first, and you set the rules for who benefits and when. Because the trust owns the property, not you personally, what's in it passes to your family without going through the Surrogate's Court.
Many people don't need a trust at all, and a well-drafted will is enough. When a trust does make sense, the right kind depends on what you're trying to accomplish.
Revocable or irrevocable: two different tools for two different jobs.
Revocable living trust
You stay in full control and can change or cancel it at any time. Its main job is to keep your estate out of probate.
- Avoids probate in the Surrogate's Court
- Avoids a second, "ancillary" probate if you own property in another state
- Keeps your affairs private and makes things simpler for your family
- Helps when family situations are complicated, because there is no court proceeding in which every relative is notified
- Does not protect assets from nursing home costs
Irrevocable trust
You give up direct ownership of what goes into it, and that's what makes it protective. It's the tool used most often for Medicaid planning.
- Protects your home and savings from long-term care costs after the five-year look-back
- You can still live in your home and usually receive the income
- Also avoids probate for what it holds
- Can be used for estate tax planning in larger estates
Avoiding a second probate in another state
If you live in New York and also own a home or land somewhere else, such as a condo in Florida or a house in another state, your estate may have to go through probate twice: once here in New York, and again in a separate "ancillary" proceeding in the state where that property is located.
That usually means hiring a second attorney in the other state, paying a second set of court costs, and waiting months longer before your family can sell or transfer the property.
Placing the out-of-state property in a revocable trust avoids that entirely. The trust owns the property, so there is nothing to probate in the other state, and your family can handle it without going to court there.
Why so many people want to avoid probate.
"Probate" is a word that worries people, and it's worth understanding why. It's the court process that confirms a will and gives the executor authority to act. It works, but it has real drawbacks that a trust can avoid.
Time
Probate can take several months, often a year, and sometimes several years depending on how complex the estate is. Meanwhile, the house often can't be sold and money can't be distributed.
Cost
Court filing fees, legal fees, and in some cases bond premiums, plus a second proceeding if you own property in another state.
Notice to every relative
In probate, your closest legal relatives must be formally notified and given the chance to object, even those you've chosen to leave less to. A trust passes privately, without that step.
The right plan for your situation, not a one-size-fits-all package.
Families with significant assets
For larger estates, planning goes beyond a will: reducing New York estate tax, coordinating property in more than one state, planning for business interests, and passing wealth to children and grandchildren in a way that protects it. You get experienced, careful work and direct access to the attorney doing it.
Hardworking families
If you've spent a lifetime paying off your home and saving, you want to make sure it goes to your children, avoids unnecessary court costs, and is protected if you ever need long-term care. I'll recommend only what you actually need.
How we'll put your plan together
- An unhurried first meetingWe talk about your family, what you own, and what you want to happen.
- A clear recommendationI explain your options and what I recommend, in plain English.
- Drafting and reviewI prepare your documents and we go through them together, page by page.
- Signing and follow-throughI supervise the signing and make sure trusts are funded and deeds are recorded, so the plan actually works.