A complete New York estate plan rests on four coordinated documents: a last will and testament, one or more trusts, a durable power of attorney, and a health care proxy. Together they answer the questions every family eventually faces — who receives your property, who manages your finances if you cannot, and who makes your medical decisions in an emergency.
If you are wondering whether New York will tax your estate in 2026, here is the short, reassuring answer: most New Yorkers owe nothing. For deaths on or after January 1, 2026 (through December 31, 2026), New York gives every estate a basic exclusion amount of $7,350,000. If your total estate is worth less than that, no New York estate
To include digital assets in your New York estate plan, you name a trusted person to access them and you grant that person clear legal authority through the core documents you already use for everything else: your will, your trust, and especially your durable power of attorney. Digital assets—email accounts, photos in the cloud, social media, online banking, cryptocurrency, domain
You can avoid probate in New York by arranging your assets so they pass automatically at death — outside the court process — instead of through your will. The most reliable tool is a revocable living trust (authorized under EPTL Article 7), but you can also sidestep probate with beneficiary designations, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts, and properly structured joint ownership.
If you are a new parent in New York wondering where to begin, here is the reassuring short answer: estate planning for a young family means putting four coordinated documents in place — a Will, possibly a Trust, a durable Power of Attorney, and a Health Care Proxy — so that if something happens to you, your children are cared
For most New Yorkers who are just getting started, the honest answer is: you almost certainly need a will, and you may also benefit from a trust — but the two do different jobs, and many people need both working together. A will tells the world who should receive your property and who should care for your minor children. A