A Special Needs Trust (SNT) in New York is a legal arrangement, authorized by EPTL 7-1.12, that holds money and property for the benefit of a person with a disability without disqualifying that person from means-tested government benefits such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). In plain terms: instead of leaving an inheritance directly to a disabled loved one
The short answer: in New York, a will is a public document that takes effect only at death and must be validated through probate in the Surrogate’s Court, while a trust is a private arrangement that can take effect during your lifetime and, when funded correctly, lets your assets pass to your beneficiaries without probate at all. The practical difference
An irrevocable trust can protect your home and savings from nursing-home costs in New York — but only if it is funded at least five years before you apply for institutional (nursing-home) Medicaid. That five-year window is the “look-back,” and it is the single most important number in Medicaid planning. When you transfer assets into a properly drafted irrevocable trust
To fund a trust in New York, you legally transfer ownership of your assets — your home, bank and brokerage accounts, business interests, and certain beneficiary designations — out of your individual name and into the name of the trust. This step is what makes the trust work: a trust only controls and protects the property that has actually been
To choose a trustee for your New York trust, evaluate three things in order: the candidate’s trustworthiness and judgment, their availability over the full life of the trust, and their ability to handle the fiduciary duties New York law imposes — the prudent-investor standard, the duty of loyalty, and the duty to account to beneficiaries. The best trustee is not
Yes. A properly drafted and fully funded revocable living trust avoids probate in New York. When you transfer your assets into a living trust during your lifetime, those assets are no longer owned by you as an individual at death — they are owned by the trust. Because there is nothing in your sole name to “prove” before the Surrogate’s
How mixed-status immigrant families in New York use trusts, QDOTs, and the right specialists to protect assets across state estate law and federal immigration law.