Wills, Trusts, and Estates
Attorneys in New York and New Jersey
You've Worked Hard to Build a Future for Yourself and Your Family. Let
Us Help You Protect It.
For over 50 years, we’ve been helping clients protect their interests
and plan for their future.
We work hand in hand with you to make sure your estate plan addresses your
needs and concerns and meets your goals, protecting your legacy and loved ones.
Whatever your age, income, or family circumstances, our skilled legal team
creates a personalized and comprehensive trust and estate plan to safeguard
your assets and well-being. You can expect personal attention and powerful
representation throughout the process, including planning, ongoing administration,
accounting, and if need be, litigation.
From a basic Last Will and Testament to a complex multigenerational business
succession plan, we structure a clear and detailed estate plan to ensure
your wishes are honored by both family and authorities.
Your estate plan is tailored to you and can include a variety of planning
vehicles. The essential goal is always threefold:
- Secure your future financial independence and health care.
- Prepare for an event of physical or mental incapacity or death.
- Protect your inheritance against estate taxes and creditors and specify
its distribution.
We proudly maintain long-lasting relationships with many of our clients,
helping them plan and manage their estates over decades and even generations.
Your estate plan can be prepared from the comfort of your own home by phone
or teleconferencing.
The time to plan for tomorrow is today.
How Can A Wills, Trusts, and Estate Lawyer In New York Help?
Hiring a lawyer to help with matters of wills, trusts, and estates can
truly go a long way.
The benefits of hiring an attorney include the following:
- Documents that are entirely customized for you and your needs
- Answers to any questions that you may have
- Professional legal guidance from experts
- Documents that are always up-to-date and have your best interests in mind
- Trusted legal guidance regarding wills, trusts, and estate for you and
your family
- Ensured legal compliance
Contact us today to schedule a free initial consultation with our wills, trusts, and estate
lawyers in New York.
Why Choose Us For Wills, Trusts, and Estate Matters In New York?
It’s your future – your estate plan should be tailored to you.
Our estate plans aren’t prefabricated templates. We work closely
with you and your family to customize legal solutions for your unique
needs and wishes.
Our seasoned attorneys come together from a wide range of legal practices
to provide you with trusted guidance, including other areas of law like
Elder Law, Tax Law,
Real Estate Law,
Business and Transactional Law,
Exit & Succession Planning for Business Owners,
COVID-19 Legal Assistance,
Family Law,
Surrogacy & Adoption, and
LGBTQ Representation.
Whether you are a testator, grantor, executor, fiduciary, trustee, or beneficiary,
and whether you live in New York, New Jersey, or out-of-state, we’ll
help you navigate the process efficiently and cost-effectively.
As federal and state laws and taxes change over time, along with family
circumstances and wealth, we’ll work with you to make sure your
estate plan is up to date and maximizes available benefits, exemptions,
and other opportunities.
Vishnick McGovern Milizio LLP’s Wills, Trusts, and Estates practice
is highly reputable. Our diverse clientele includes fellow attorneys,
judges, and other legal professionals who retain us both for the protection
of their individual interests and for representation of their clients
in complex litigation involving trusts and estates.
We have the expertise to make sure your future meets your expectations.
Suggested Reading:
Our Comprehensive Services
TRUST & ESTATE PLANNING
- Trust and Estate Planning
- Multigenerational estate planning
- High-net-worth estate planning
- Post-mortem estate and tax planning
- Last Will & Testaments
- Advance care planning (living wills, health care proxies, and powers of attorney)
- End-of-life planning and health care directives
- Designating beneficiaries of retirement plans, life insurance policies,
and financial accounts
- Revocable and irrevocable trusts
- Creditor Protection Plan
- Planning for young families
- Guardianship designation for underage children or disabled adults
- Special needs planning
- Estate and gift planning
- Charitable planned giving
- Family limited partnerships and limited liability companies
- Intrafamily loans
- Personal & business planning
- Business agreement provisions for death or disability
- Buy-sell agreements
- Real estate ownership and joint venture agreements
- Business exit and succession planning
- Planning for divorced and single parents
- Developing a plan of care and distribution for disabled beneficiaries
TAX PLANNING
- Identifying and maximizing tax benefits, exemptions, and other opportunities
- Sophisticated wealth transfer and preservation strategies
- Projection of potential estate tax savings and income tax and cash flow analysis
- Advising fiduciaries and beneficiaries on estate tax proceedings
- Estate and inheritance tax returns
- Fiduciary tax returns
- Generation-skipping transfer tax (GSTT)
- Estate and gift taxes
EXIT & SUCCESSION PLANNING FOR BUSINESS OWNERS
- Estate and tax planning for business owners
- Exit & Succession Planning for Business Owners
- Transfers of family businesses and business assets
- Buy-sell (buyout) and redemption agreements
- Deferred compensation arrangements
- Split-dollar life insurance agreements
- Key employee retention strategies
- Preparing business for buyer due diligence process
SPECIAL NEEDS PLANNING
- Planning and administration of legal affairs for persons with autism or
intellectual or developmental disability
- Planning with special needs trusts
- Self-settled and court-ordered supplemental needs trusts
- Will drafting for parents or other care providers
- Article 17A guardianship (mentally or developmentally disabled adults)
- Qualifying for Medicaid, SSI, and other benefits
GUARDIANSHIPS
- Guardianships
- Guardianship designations for minor dependents
- Article 81 Guardianships (physically or mentally incapacitated adult)
- Article 17A guardianships (mentally or developmentally disabled adults)
- Property management guardianships (managing, accumulating, and disbursing assets)
- Conserving and protecting minors’ inheritance or other settlements
and awards
ELDER LAW
- Elder Law
- Long-term care planning and administration
- Personal care and placement decisions
- Planning, qualifying, and applying for Community Medicaid (in-home care)
or Institutional Medicaid (facility care)
- Asset protection for Medicaid qualifying purposes
- Supplemental needs trusts
- Article 81 Guardianship (physically or mentally incapacitated adult)
- Advance directives for incapacity and death
- End-of-life decisions
- Estate planning and administration
- Estate tax planning and administration
- Property management
- Asset liquidation after death
TRUST & ESTATE ADMINISTRATION
- Trust and Estate Administration
- Multi-state estate administration
- Administration of lifetime trusts
- Administration of testamentary trusts
- Guidance and administration for testators, grantors, executors, fiduciaries,
trustees, or beneficiaries
- Probate proceedings (court-supervised settlement of an estate after death)
- Informal and judicial accountings
- Preparation and filing of disclaimers
- Spousal rights of election (disinherited spouses)
- Estate and inheritance tax preparation
- Fiduciary tax preparation
- Deceased’s final personal income tax return
- Post-mortem estate and tax planning
-
Estate tax
audit representation before the IRS
- Estate assets collection and valuation
- Estate asset distribution
- Acting as executors and trustees of significant estates and trusts
TRUST & ESTATE ACCOUNTING
- Trust and Estate Accounting
- Informal and judicial accountings
- Preparation of all court-required financial reports and schedules
- Preparation of estate and gift tax returns
- Preparation of annual fiduciary income tax returns
- Review and analysis of fiduciary accounting
- Estate and trust distribution compliance analysis
- Audit representation before the IRS
- Fiduciary litigation support
CHARITABLE BEQUEST MANAGEMENT
- Charitable Bequest Management
- Charitable planned giving
- Gift planning
- Initial bequest analysis and inventory
- Will and probate document analysis
- Ongoing communication regarding status of bequest with fiduciary’s
legal counsel
- Facilitation of bequest payments
- Fiduciary accounting analysis and negotiation
- Analysis and negotiation of requested releases
- Preparing and filing objections regarding fiduciary accounting
- Judicial accounting
- Final decree negotiation, fiduciary accounting settlement, and enforcement
- Charitable beneficiary representation in litigation (will and trusts disputes,
construction proceedings, compulsory fiduciary accounting proceedings)
FIDUCIARY ACCOUNTING
- Fiduciary Accounting
- Representation of individual fiduciaries (representatives, administrators,
executors, trustees, and guardians)
- Representation of corporate fiduciaries (trust companies, national and
local banks, wealth management firms, and nonprofit and charitable organizations)
- Will and trust issues
- Issues between trustees and beneficiaries
- Income, estate, and gift issues
- Breach of fiduciary duty claims
- Removal of fiduciaries
- Recovering estate assets
- Settlement agreements
TRUST & ESTATE LITIGATION
- Trust and Estate Litigation
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Estate plan disputes (disinheritance, asset misallocation, trust mismanagement,
fraud or embezzlement, abuse, guardianship contests, and other issues)
- Challenging or defending wills in probate (Surrogate’s Court)
- Identifying fiduciary wrongdoing and protecting beneficiaries
- Defense, objection to nomination, or removal of fiduciaries
- Trust proceedings
- Defense or removal of trustees
- Discovery and turnover proceedings
- Estate and trust accounting
- Advising fiduciaries and beneficiaries on all aspects of contested probate
- Representation of charitable organizations
- Supreme Court-related matters
MATRIMONIAL & FAMILY LAW
LGBTQ REPRESENTATION
- LGBTQ Representation
- Estate planning, administration, and litigation for LGBTQ families
- Designating healthcare proxies, living wills, and powers of attorney
- Fiduciary appointments
- Customized trusts and probate alternatives
- Prenuptial, postnuptial, and other martial agreements
- Domestic partnership agreements
- Property co-owner agreements
- Child custody, guardianship, and maintenance for estate purposes
- Planning for divorced and single parents
