The New York estate tax cliff is a feature of state law that can quietly erase your family’s entire estate-tax exemption the moment your taxable estate climbs just slightly past the threshold. For deaths in 2026, the basic exclusion amount is $7,350,000, but if your taxable estate exceeds 105% of that figure — $7,717,500 — you do not lose only
A complete New York estate plan is built on four coordinated documents working together as one protective system: a last will and testament, one or more trusts, a durable power of attorney, and a health care proxy. Each one guards a different part of what you have built — your property, your tax exposure, your finances if you become incapacitated,
The most reliable way to avoid probate in New York is to make sure your assets pass outside of the Surrogate’s Court process — primarily by funding a revocable living trust (authorized under EPTL Article 7), titling property jointly, and naming beneficiaries directly on accounts. When property is already legally arranged to transfer at death, there is nothing left for
If you are a young family in New York, estate planning is the single most important step you can take to safeguard what you have built — your children’s future, your home, and your savings — against the unexpected. A complete New York estate plan is not just a will. It is a coordinated set of four documents — a
Estate planning for a blended family in New York means building a coordinated plan — a will, one or more trusts, a durable power of attorney, and a health care proxy — that protects your current spouse and the children from a prior marriage at the same time, so that neither is accidentally disinherited and nothing you built is left
For most New York families who want to truly protect what they have built, the honest answer is: you likely need both a will and at least one trust, working together as part of a coordinated plan. A will is the legal backbone that names guardians for minor children and directs who inherits, but it does not keep your estate