Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Transferring Inherited Real Estate Property Among Family Members After the Estate Settles
Family togetherness is something to celebrate. Stories in which people form familial bonds or in which family members get to stay together after being separated or after overcoming a risk of separation consistently register as relatable to audiences, even as today’s audiences have become cynical about romantic love and about ever finding financial stability…. Read More »
Partition of Inherited Property: An Avoidable Nightmare
A testator’s plans for his or her children to inherit the family home can backfire in several ways. The worst-case scenario is that the real estate property never even makes it to their heirs. The probate court can order the sale of the decedent’s house if the estate does not have enough cash to… Read More »
SCPA 2103 Discovery Proceedings: Recovering Estate Assets Someone Is Hiding
Families rarely talk openly about money while everyone is still alive, which is part of why so much confusion follows a death. Maybe a sibling who lived closest to a parent quietly moved bank accounts into joint names “to help out” long before anyone else knew there was a problem. Maybe a caretaker walked… Read More »
Family Limited Partnerships and Family LLCs in High Net-Worth Estate Plans
Once a family’s wealth grows past a certain point, a will and a revocable trust start to feel like only part of the picture. If you own a business, a portfolio of rental properties, or a farm that has been in the family for generations, the goal is usually not just to transfer the… Read More »
The Federal Estate Tax Exemption After the 2026 Tax Law: What Changed and What Didn’t
For years, estate planning articles carried the same warning: the generous federal estate tax exemption from 2017 was scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025, and unless Congress acted, it would roughly cut in half. Writers made it sound like a countdown clock, urging wealthy families to give away as much as they… Read More »
Naming a Donor-Advised Fund vs. a Charitable Trust in Your Estate Plan
Giving to causes you care about does not have to end when your estate settles. Plenty of people build charitable giving into their estate plan, whether that means supporting an animal shelter, a house of worship, or a scholarship fund at their old school. The harder question is not whether to give, but how…. Read More »
Portability of the Estate Tax Exemption Between Spouses: Is It Worth Electing
Married couples often assume that whatever one spouse does not use of their estate tax exemption will automatically carry over to the other. At the federal level, that assumption is correct, but only if the surviving spouse’s executor takes a specific, timely step. In New York, the same assumption is simply wrong. Understanding the… Read More »
When an Irrevocable Trust Can (and Cannot) Be Modified Under New York Law
The word “irrevocable” sounds absolute, and many clients assume that once they sign an irrevocable trust instrument, its terms are frozen forever. That is not quite true. New York law gives grantors, trustees, and beneficiaries several legitimate paths to change an irrevocable trust when circumstances shift, even though the trust cannot simply be torn… Read More »
Handshake or Gavel? Closing the Books on a New York Trust
Every trust eventually reaches the point where the trustee has to show the work. Money came in, money went out, investments rose and fell, and the beneficiaries are entitled to see how it all adds up. New York gives trustees two ways to settle that accounting. One is private, fast, and inexpensive. The other… Read More »
No Health Care Proxy? New York Has Already Picked Someone for You
Most people assume that if they never signed a health care proxy, nobody has the authority to speak for them in a hospital. The reality is closer to the opposite. New York has a default answer to the question of who decides, and it is written into state law as a ranked list. The… Read More »