The Rules Are the Same in All Sixty-Two Counties — the Practice Is Not

Yes. New York's EPTL and SCPA apply statewide, so the substantive rules for wills, trusts, intestacy, and probate are the same in every county. What differs is local Surrogate's Court practice and the nature of clients' assets. We prepare plans that comply with New York law and account for the county where an estate will eventually be administered.

Under the SCPA, an estate is generally administered in the Surrogate's Court of the county where the decedent was domiciled at death. If the decedent owned real property in another New York county, ancillary steps may be needed there. We help families identify the correct court and handle filings across multiple counties when necessary.

Yes. New York imposes its own estate tax separate from the federal estate tax, with an exemption amount that is adjusted over time. New York also applies a "cliff" that can tax the entire estate when its value exceeds the exemption by a set margin. We design plans, including trusts and gifting strategies, to help reduce or manage this exposure.

Not by statute, and that surprises people who moved here with one. New York has no living will act; what the law gives you instead is the health care proxy, which appoints a person to decide, and evidence of your wishes that must be clear and convincing if life-sustaining treatment is to be withdrawn. The practical consequence is that a written statement of wishes is useful but not self-executing — naming an agent is the step that actually works.

Authority to make gifts is not included in the ordinary statutory power of attorney. Without the supplemental gifting authority, an agent cannot transfer assets for Medicaid planning, cannot continue a pattern of annual gifts, and cannot fund a trust — even where everyone in the family agrees that is what the parent wanted. It is the single most common omission we find in otherwise valid documents.

The statute decides by relationship, not by circumstance. A surviving spouse with no children takes everything; a spouse and children share, with the spouse taking the first fifty thousand dollars plus half the remainder and the children dividing the rest. Where there is no spouse or child, the estate moves outward to parents, then siblings, then further. Step-children, unmarried partners and friends inherit nothing under intestacy however long the relationship.

It is separate, it has its own threshold, and it works as a cliff rather than a graduated band: an estate exceeding the exemption by more than a modest margin loses the exemption entirely rather than paying only on the excess. New York also does not allow a surviving spouse to carry over an unused exemption the way federal law permits, which is why leaving everything outright to a spouse can waste one exemption completely.

No. One New York proceeding, opened in the county where the person was domiciled, covers property anywhere in the state. A second proceeding is required only across state lines. What property in another county does need is a local appraisal and, on a sale, a closing conducted under the authority the home county issued.

Yes — the statute is the same in all sixty-two counties, and much of the work is document preparation and correspondence that does not depend on geography. Two things do: a will signing needs a properly supervised ceremony with witnesses, and some proceedings require appearances. We arrange both around where you actually are rather than expecting you to travel to us.

Several months is the ordinary span for a clear will, cooperative relatives and conventional assets; the counties differ in pace but not in requirement. Three things stretch it everywhere: a distributee who cannot be located or served, property that must be appraised or sold, and creditor claims that must be resolved before anyone inherits. Contested matters are measured in years rather than months.