Morgan Legal Group builds estate plans that protect your legacy, minimize New York and federal estate tax, and keep your family out of court. From a first will at 30 to a multi-generational trust at 70, every plan is drafted around your assets, your beneficiaries, and the specific rules of New York law.
Russel Morgan, Esq.
Founder & Principal Attorney
A modern New York estate plan is not a single document — it is a coordinated set of instruments that work together: a Last Will & Testament, one or more trusts, a NY statutory short-form Power of Attorney, a Healthcare Proxy, a Living Will, and properly coordinated beneficiary designations on every retirement, life insurance, and transfer-on-death account. Each instrument controls a different category of asset, and the plan only works if all six layers point in the same direction.
The choice between a will-only plan and a trust-based plan turns on three questions: do you own real property, what is the projected value of your estate at death, and how much privacy and probate avoidance do you want? A will-only plan is simpler and cheaper to draft but leaves every probate-eligible asset to pass through the Surrogate's Court. A funded revocable living trust skips probate entirely, keeps your asset list out of the public record, and lets a successor trustee step in immediately at incapacity or death.
New York imposes its own estate tax separately from the federal estate tax. The New York exemption is approximately $7.35 million per decedent, and the tax is structured as a notorious "cliff" — if the taxable estate exceeds 105% of the exemption (roughly $7.72 million), the exemption is lost entirely and the full estate is taxed from dollar one. The federal basic exclusion amount for 2026 is $15,000,000 per person — set by Public Law 119-21 and confirmed in IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, permanent, with inflation indexing resuming in 2027 — and the rate above that amount remains 40%. Most New York planning now lives in the gap between the two numbers: an estate can owe nothing federally and still be fully taxable by Albany.
A good plan is also revisited. Marriages, divorces, births, deaths, moves, large liquidity events, business sales, and major statutory changes (the 2021 NY POA reform, the federal SECURE Act, the 2025 federal exemption legislation) all reopen decisions made years earlier. We recommend a substantive review every three to five years and after every major life event.
Every estate planning is different. Below are the services we routinely deliver — bundled or à la carte, depending on what your case needs.
The foundation document. We draft wills that name guardians for minor children, appoint executors and successor executors, exercise powers of appointment, fund testamentary trusts, and meet the strict execution formalities of EPTL § 3-2.1.
A revocable trust holds title to your assets during your lifetime, lets you serve as your own trustee, and passes the assets to your named beneficiaries at death without probate. Funding the trust — actually retitling your real estate, brokerage accounts, and business interests into the trust — is where most DIY plans fail.
When the goal is to remove assets from your taxable estate, protect them from creditors, or qualify for Medicaid after the five-year lookback, an irrevocable trust is the right tool. We draft Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts, Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts, dynasty trusts that take advantage of the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption, and grantor-trust variations that shift income to the lower-tax beneficiary.
New York completely overhauled its POA statute effective June 13, 2021. Every POA executed after that date must use the new statutory short form under GOL Article 5 Title 15. The separate Statutory Gifts Rider was eliminated: an agent may make gifts of up to $5,000 per year under the form as written (GOL § 5-1502I), and any broader gifting authority must be written into the form’s own Modifications section (GOL § 5-1513). Old long-form POAs are still valid if properly executed but cannot be amended; new circumstances require a new form.
A Healthcare Proxy under PHL § 2980 names an agent to make medical decisions when you cannot speak for yourself. A Living Will memorializes your specific wishes on life-sustaining treatment. For patients with serious advanced illness, a MOLST (Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) form, signed by a physician, gives EMS and hospital staff actionable orders that the Proxy alone cannot.
Retirement accounts, life insurance, and TOD/POD accounts pass by contract — not by your will. A perfect will is undone the moment a stale beneficiary designation names an ex-spouse. We audit every account, align designations with the plan, and document the SECURE Act 10-year payout rules for non-spouse beneficiaries.
New York imposes no gift tax, which makes lifetime giving one of the few levers that genuinely moves a New York taxable estate. Two rules decide whether it works. Timing: Tax Law § 954(a)(3) pulls gifts made within three years of death back into the New York gross estate, so deathbed giving buys nothing. Basis: property given away carries your cost basis to the recipient, while the same property held until death takes a stepped-up basis under IRC § 1014. Appreciated assets are usually the wrong thing to give and the right thing to inherit — cash and high-basis assets go first.
A charitable bequest comes straight off the New York taxable estate, and here that arithmetic is unusually sharp: an estate sitting just above the cliff can drop back under the exemption through a gift that would otherwise have left as tax. Lifetime structures do more than a bequest. A Charitable Remainder Trust pays you or your family for a term of years and leaves what remains to charity; a Charitable Lead Trust reverses the order, sending income to charity first and the remainder to your beneficiaries. For an IRA owner past 70½, a qualified charitable distribution satisfies part of the required minimum distribution without adding a dollar to taxable income.
The instrument is only as good as the person who administers it. A New York trustee is held to the prudent investor standard of EPTL § 11-2.3 and owes an undivided duty of loyalty to every beneficiary — which is exactly where a well-meaning family appointment goes wrong, because the child who serves as trustee is usually also a beneficiary. Commissions are set by statute (SCPA § 2309 for trustees, § 2307 for executors), so an unpaid family member is not the saving it appears to be once litigation starts. We match the appointment to the assets: an individual for a straightforward plan, a corporate or professional trustee where the trust runs for decades, holds a business, or serves a beneficiary who cannot manage funds.
Statutes, thresholds, and timelines that shape every New York plan.
A defined path from first call to a fully executed, fully funded plan.
A free 30-minute call to understand your family, your assets, and your concerns. No forms to fill out beforehand — bring questions.
We build a complete picture: real estate, retirement accounts, life insurance, business interests, digital assets, and family dynamics. From this, we recommend a will-only, trust-based, or hybrid plan.
Drafts are delivered within 14 to 21 days of engagement and walked through paragraph by paragraph in a review meeting. Revisions are included.
We host the signing at our Manhattan office. Two qualified witnesses, a notary, and a self-proving affidavit are arranged so the will is admissible to probate without further proof.
For trust-based plans we prepare deeds, brokerage retitling letters, and beneficiary designation updates. Funding is where most plans break — we make sure yours does not.
A complimentary review every three years and after every major life event. Laws change; your plan should change with them.
The questions clients ask most when they pick up the phone. Still need more? Call or schedule a consultation — we're happy to walk through your specific facts.
Ask Us DirectlyYes. Even with a fully funded revocable trust, you should have a "pour-over" will that catches any asset that was not retitled into the trust before death. The pour-over will directs those stray assets into the trust for unified distribution. It also names a guardian for minor children — something a trust cannot do.
A pour-over will is a short will used alongside a revocable living trust. Instead of distributing assets directly to named beneficiaries, it "pours" any assets the testator owned at death into the existing trust, which then governs distribution. It is the safety net for a trust-based plan.
A substantive review every three to five years and after every major life event: marriage, divorce, birth or adoption, death of a named beneficiary or fiduciary, move to or from New York, business sale, large inheritance, or a major change in the tax law. The 2021 NY POA reform alone made millions of older POAs unusable for new transactions.
Generic templates frequently fail to satisfy New York's execution rules under EPTL § 3-2.1, do not address the spousal elective share, do not coordinate with the 2021 NY POA statutory form, and ignore the NY estate tax cliff. A will that does not meet the witnessing formalities is invalid and the estate passes by intestacy.
A will-only plan is appropriate for younger clients with simple assets and no real property. A revocable trust makes sense when you own real estate (especially in multiple states, where it avoids ancillary probate), value privacy, want a clean incapacity backstop, or want your beneficiaries to receive their inheritance without months of court delay.
The New York exemption is $7,350,000 for 2026. The federal basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 per person, permanent under Public Law 119-21 and indexed from 2027. Federal law allows portability of a deceased spouse’s unused exemption; New York does not. The New York "cliff" eliminates the exemption entirely once the taxable estate exceeds 105% of the threshold (roughly $7.72 million), which is why planning targets the space between the two numbers.
No. Under EPTL § 5-1.1-A, a surviving spouse has an "elective share" equal to the greater of $50,000 or one-third of the net estate (including most non-probate assets). A will or trust that attempts to leave the spouse less than the elective share is enforceable as written only if the spouse fails to elect within six months of letters issuing — and the spouse usually does elect.
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust is an irrevocable trust that holds assets long enough to survive Medicaid's five-year lookback under SSL § 366. Assets placed in a properly drafted MAPT five or more years before a Medicaid application are not counted toward the eligibility limit and are not subject to estate recovery. MAPTs are typically considered between ages 60 and 70.
Yes. Cryptocurrency, online accounts, domain names, cloud storage, and social media require explicit authorization in the POA and will under the New York Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (EPTL Article 13-A). Without this authorization, custodians may legally refuse to provide access to a fiduciary, even with letters testamentary.
No. New York repealed its gift tax, so lifetime giving is limited only by the federal rules. The catch is Tax Law § 954(a)(3): a gift made within three years of death is added back into the New York gross estate as if it never happened. Gifting is a planning tool for people with time, not a deathbed maneuver — and because gifts carry your cost basis while inherited property is stepped up under IRC § 1014, the asset you choose to give matters as much as when you give it.
Almost never as an outright transfer. You lose the stepped-up basis, so the same house your children could have inherited and sold with little or no capital gain becomes a taxable gain measured from what you paid decades ago. You expose the house to your child’s divorce, creditors, and judgments. You may lose STAR and senior exemptions, and the transfer still starts the Medicaid five-year lookback. A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust reaches the same protection while keeping the basis step-up and your right to live there.
Someone who will still be capable in twenty years, is willing to be unpopular, and has no stake in the outcome. New York holds trustees to the prudent investor standard of EPTL § 11-2.3 and pays them statutory commissions under SCPA § 2309, so a family member serving "for free" is neither free nor unaccountable. Where the trust will run for decades, hold a business, or make discretionary distributions to a beneficiary who cannot manage money, a corporate or professional trustee — often paired with a family member as co-trustee — avoids putting one child in the position of judging another.
Flat fees vary by complexity. A will-based plan for a single individual with simple assets is typically less than a trust-based plan for a married couple with real estate, business interests, and an ILIT. We quote the full fee in writing after the initial consultation — there are no hourly surprises and no "per page" charges.
If you search for the “definition of estate planning” in a standard dictionary, you will find a dry explanation: “The process of anticipating and arranging, during a person’s life, for the management and disposal of that person’s estate during the person’s life and at and after death.”
While technically accurate, this definition is woefully inadequate for residents of New York State. It fails to capture the urgency, the complexity, and the aggressive legal environment we face in 2026.
I am Russel Morgan , and at Morgan Legal Group , with many years of experience, we redefine what this process means for our clients. We have seen that relying on a textbook definition can lead to disastrous results—probate delays, tax liabilities, and family feuds.
In the high-stakes jurisdiction of New York, Estate Planning is defined as the legal architecture of control. It is the proactive creation of a fortress that shields your assets from the government, protects your autonomy during incapacity, and ensures your legacy survives intact. This cornerstone guide will expand the definition of estate planning beyond simple documents, exploring its vital role in the modern financial landscape.
The most common misconception is that estate planning is synonymous with “death planning.” This limits the definition and endangers the client. A true estate plan focuses equally on protection during life .
In New York, if you become incapacitated due to a stroke, accident, or dementia, and you have no plan, the state takes over. The Legal Consequence: Your family must petition the court for Article 81 Guardianship . This is a public, expensive, and humiliating lawsuit where a judge decides who manages your money and health. The Estate Planning Solution: By executing a Durable Power of Attorney and a Health Care Proxy , you define who speaks for you. You retain control, keeping the courts out of your private life.
For business owners and professionals in NYC , estate planning is also defined as asset protection. It involves structuring your wealth so that it is insulated from frivolous lawsuits, creditors, and predators. Using tools like LLCs and Irrevocable Trusts transforms your “estate” from a vulnerable pile of cash into a protected entity.
Estate planning in Florida or Texas is fundamentally different from estate planning in New York. Our local laws impose specific burdens that redefine the necessary strategy.
In some states, probate is a simple administrative task. In New York, the Surrogate’s Court process is a litigious minefield.
Therefore, for a New Yorker, the definition of a successful estate plan is often “Avoiding Probate” entirely through the use of a Revocable Living Trust .
New York is one of the few states with its own Estate Tax. The “Cliff” creates a unique definition of risk. The Rule: If your estate exceeds the NY exemption (approx. $7.35M) by more than 5%, you pay tax on the entire estate. The Consequence: A “simple Will” that leaves everything to your spouse might accidentally trigger this tax. Sophisticated planning defines the use of Credit Shelter Trusts to capture both spouses’ exemptions and avoid the cliff.
An estate plan is not a single document; it is a suite of instruments, each with a specific legal definition and purpose.
Definition: A legal document that provides instructions for the distribution of assets held in your individual name after death. Key Function: It is the only place to nominate a Guardian for minor children. However, it guarantees probate.
Definition: A legal entity created during your lifetime to hold ownership of your assets. Key Function: It acts as a substitute for a Will that avoids probate. It provides privacy and immediate access to assets upon death or incapacity.
Definition: A statement of your wishes regarding end-of-life medical treatment (e.g., ventilation, artificial nutrition). Key Function: It provides clear evidence of your desires, relieving your family of the burden of guessing during a crisis.
As we operate in 2026, the definition of estate planning must include a reaction to current legislative realities.
The scheduled 2026 cut to the federal exemption did not happen. Public Law 119-21, signed July 4, 2025, set the basic exclusion amount at $15,000,000 per person for 2026 and made it permanent, with inflation adjustments beginning in 2027. For most New York families the federal estate tax is no longer the pressing risk. The New York estate tax, with its $7,350,000 exemption and its cliff, is. Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts and lifetime gifting remain useful for large estates and for moving assets out of the New York taxable estate, but there is no closing window driving the decision.
With the cost of nursing homes in New York exceeding $20,000/month, the definition of “retirement planning” has merged with estate planning. The Rule: New York applies a 60-month lookback to nursing home Medicaid. A 30-month lookback for home care Medicaid was enacted in 2020 but has not been implemented as of 2026; it remains on the books and can be activated. The Strategy: Planning is defined by acting early . Creating a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust five years before you need care is the only way to safeguard your home.
A persistent myth is that “Estate” implies “Wealthy.” This is legally incorrect. Legal Definition of Estate: Everything you own—your car, your checking account, your home, your furniture, your digital photos. Who Needs a Plan?
Estate planning allows you to determine how your assets, including property, investments, bank accounts, and personal belongings, will be distributed among your chosen beneficiaries or heirs. It provides a legal framework to specify who will receive what and what proportions, avoiding potential disputes and uncertainty among family members.
Through estate planning, you can implement strategies to minimize estate taxes, gift taxes, and other potential costs associated with the transfer of assets. Proper tax planning can help preserve more of your assets for your beneficiaries and reduce the financial burden on your estate.
Estate planning allows you to provide for the financial well-being and care of your loved ones, including minor children, elderly or disabled family members, or individuals with special needs. For example, you can designate guardians for minor children, create trusts to manage and protect assets for beneficiaries and establish provisions for healthcare decisions and end-of-life care.
A well-crafted estate plan can help your loved ones avoid or streamline the probate process, reducing the time, costs, and complexities associated with court-supervised probate proceedings. Additionally, specific estate planning tools, like trusts, can help maintain privacy by keeping your asset distribution details out of public records.
If you own a business, estate planning allows for the smooth transition and succession of your business interests. You can designate successors, create a plan for the management or sale of the business, and minimize disruptions to its operations.
Estate planning involves preparing for incapacity or disability during your lifetime. Through documents like powers of attorney and healthcare directives, you can appoint trusted individuals to make financial and medical decisions on your behalf if you cannot do so.
Estate planning can also include charitable giving and supporting causes that are important to you. By having charitable bequests or creating charitable foundations or trusts, you can leave a lasting impact and support the organizations or causes you to care about.
By engaging in estate planning, you can have peace of mind knowing that your assets will be distributed according to your wishes, your loved ones will be provided for, and potential complexities and conflicts will be minimized. It is advisable to consult with an experienced estate planning attorney or professional to ensure your estate plan is tailored to your specific goals and circumstances.
Estate planning is a broader concept than just creating a will, although a will is an essential component of most estate plans. Estate planning encompasses all the arrangements a person makes for the management and disposal of their estate during their life and after death, while a will is a legal document that outlines how a person’s assets should be distributed after they pass away. Let’s craft a detailed description of the estate planning services offered by Morgan Legal Group, which will clarify these concepts:
At Morgan Legal Group in New York City, we recognize that estate planning is a comprehensive process, not just the drafting of a will. While a will is a crucial element of an estate plan, our services extend far beyond to ensure that all aspects of your estate are carefully managed and planned for both during your life and after your passing.
A will is a fundamental component of an estate plan. It is a legal document that specifies how your assets should be distributed and can also appoint guardians for minor children. Our attorneys are skilled in drafting wills that clearly reflect your wishes and stand up to legal scrutiny.
Beyond the will, estate planning involves strategies for asset distribution that might include trusts, gifts, or joint ownership arrangements. These strategies can help manage tax implications and ensure a smooth transition of your estate to your beneficiaries.
Trusts are versatile tools in estate planning, allowing for more control over when and how your assets are distributed. We have experience creating various types of trusts, including revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts, and special needs trusts, each serving different purposes in an estate plan.
Estate planning also involves preparations for potential incapacity. We assist our clients in establishing powers of attorney and healthcare directives, ensuring that your preferences are respected in situations where you may be unable to make decisions for yourself.
Effective estate planning includes addressing potential tax implications for your estate and beneficiaries. Our team offers advanced tax planning advice to minimize estate taxes and preserve more of your estate for your loved ones.
Our comprehensive approach to estate planning sets us apart. At Morgan Legal Group, we combine detailed legal knowledge with a personalized approach, ensuring that every aspect of your estate is planned according to your specific wishes and circumstances. Based in New York City, our team is well-versed in both local and federal estate law, making us a trusted choice for comprehensive estate planning.
Whether you’re starting fresh or updating an existing plan, our experienced attorneys at Morgan Legal Group are here to guide you every step of the way. Contact us to begin the important journey of estate planning, tailored to your unique needs and goals.
Understanding the cost of estate planning is a common concern for many clients. At Morgan Legal Group in New York City, we believe in transparent, fair pricing that reflects the personalized and comprehensive nature of our services. While the cost can vary based on individual needs and the complexity of the estate, our goal is to provide value-driven, affordable estate planning solutions to our clients.
The cost of estate planning is influenced by several factors, including the size and complexity of your estate, the specific types of documents required (such as wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives), and any special considerations like tax planning or business succession. Our team works with you to understand your specific needs and tailors our services accordingly.
At Morgan Legal Group, we believe in a transparent pricing structure. We offer initial consultations to discuss your estate planning needs and provide a clear understanding of the costs involved. Our fees are competitive, especially considering the high level of experience and personalized service we offer.
Our estate planning services are comprehensive, covering everything from basic wills and trusts to more complex arrangements like charitable giving strategies and business succession planning. We are dedicated to providing you with the legal tools and advice you need to effectively manage and protect your estate.
When considering the cost of estate planning, it’s important to recognize the value it brings. A well-crafted estate plan not only provides peace of mind but also helps avoid costly legal complications in the future. Our experienced attorneys ensure that your estate plan is tailored to your unique circumstances, providing long-term value and security for you and your loved ones.
Morgan Legal Group is a trusted name in New York City for estate planning services. Our team combines in-depth legal knowledge with a commitment to personalized care. We understand that every client’s situation is unique, and we strive to offer services that reflect your specific needs and goals, all at a fair and reasonable cost.
Ready to start the estate planning process? Contact Morgan Legal Group for a consultation. We’ll discuss your needs, explain our pricing structure, and begin the journey of securing your legacy with a tailored estate plan.
Living in New York City is an investment. From the price of a Manhattan co-op to the property taxes on a Brooklyn brownstone, every aspect of life here carries a premium. Consequently, when New Yorkers begin thinking about their legacy, the first question they inevitably ask is: “How much does estate planning cost in NYC?”
This is a crucial question. However, searching for the absolute lowest price is a dangerous strategy. A cheap legal document often becomes the most expensive mistake your family will ever make. The true cost of estate planning must be measured not just by the upfront attorney fee, but by the massive financial losses you prevent down the road.
I am Russel Morgan , the founder and lead attorney at Morgan Legal Group . With many years of experience, our team has successfully engineered legal fortresses for New York families. We have handled over 5,000 cases. Furthermore, our 900+ positive reviews across all platforms reflect our commitment to absolute transparency regarding our fees and the value we deliver.
In this comprehensive, cornerstone guide, we will provide an honest, unfiltered breakdown of estate planning costs in New York City for 2026. We will dissect the price of Wills versus Trusts, expose the hidden fees of the Surrogate’s Court, and explain exactly what you are paying for when you hire a premier legal authority.
Before discussing specific numbers, you must understand the environment. New York City is a distinct legal jurisdiction. The laws governing property, taxes, and inheritance here are uniquely aggressive.
A “modest” home in Queens or Staten Island easily exceeds $1 million in 2026. Therefore, almost every homeowner in NYC possesses a high-value estate. A simple error in transferring a deed or structuring a trust can trigger massive capital gains taxes or title disputes. You are not paying an attorney just to fill out a form; you are paying them to protect a multi-million-dollar asset.
New York imposes a severe Estate Tax. The 2026 exemption sits around $7.35 million. However, New York features a devastating “Tax Cliff.” If your estate exceeds the exemption by just 5%, the state taxes the entire estate from dollar one. A sophisticated plan avoids this cliff, saving your family hundreds of thousands of dollars. The cost of the plan is microscopic compared to the tax savings.
A Last Will and Testament is the foundation of many traditional plans. However, the cost varies wildly depending on your family’s complexity.
If you are a single individual with simple assets (e.g., one bank account, no real estate, no children), a basic Will is relatively straightforward. Our flat fee for a simple Will is $2,000, executed with the self-proving affidavit that keeps the witnesses out of Surrogate’s Court later.
Most New Yorkers need more. If you own real estate, have minor children, run a business, or have a blended family, you need a complex Will. This document might include testamentary trusts to protect minors or “Santa Claus clauses” for tax planning. Our comprehensive plan — Will, power of attorney, health care proxy and living will together — is a flat $3,500.
You must understand a critical truth. A Will does not avoid court. It guarantees it. When you die, your Will must go through probate in the Surrogate’s Court. The upfront cost of a Will is cheap, but the backend cost to your family is staggering.
Probate costs in NYC include:
A cheap Will ultimately costs your family a fortune in court.
To avoid the massive backend costs of probate, we strongly advise NYC homeowners to utilize a Revocable Living Trust . This is the gold standard of modern wealth protection.
A Trust requires significantly more architectural work upfront. The attorney must draft the Trust, draft a Pour-Over Will, and execute new deeds to transfer your real estate into the Trust (a process called “funding”).
Our Revocable Living Trust package runs $4,000 to $7,000, funding consultation included. A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust, which carries five-year look-back planning, runs $5,000 to $8,000.
While the upfront cost is higher, the ROI is massive. Because assets in a Trust bypass the Surrogate’s Court entirely, your family pays zero probate fees . Your Successor Trustee gains immediate access to the funds. The process is private, fast, and entirely cost-effective. You are spending $5,000 today to save your children $50,000 tomorrow.
An estate plan must protect you while you are alive. If you suffer a stroke, your Will is useless. You must have incapacity documents. At Morgan Legal Group , we include these in our comprehensive packages, but they can be drafted standalone.
A New York Statutory Power of Attorney allows an agent to manage your finances. A heavily customized POA with proper statutory modifications (allowing for asset protection and Medicaid planning) typically costs $500 to $1,000 .
A Health Care Proxy designates someone to make medical decisions for you. A Living Will dictates your end-of-life care wishes. Together, these documents generally cost $400 to $800 .
If you do not have these documents and become incapacitated, your family must sue you in court for guardianship . A guardianship proceeding in NYC requires hiring multiple attorneys and court evaluators. The cost regularly exceeds $15,000 to $20,000 . Spending $1,000 now prevents this financial catastrophe.
As we age, the greatest threat to our wealth is not taxes; it is the cost of long-term care. Nursing homes in the NYC metro area frequently charge over $20,000 per month.
To qualify for Medicaid without losing your home to government recovery liens, you need an irrevocable MAPT. This purpose-built trust triggers a 5-year “look-back” period. Because the stakes are incredibly high, the legal engineering must be flawless.
Our Medicaid Asset Protection Trust is a flat $5,000 to $8,000, and the deed work that moves the house into it is $2,500 — so a full Medicaid plan lands between $7,500 and $10,500 depending on how many parcels and accounts have to be retitled.
For ultra-high-net-worth clients, standard documents are insufficient. You need advanced tax suppression strategies.
An ILIT removes the death benefit of a life insurance policy from your taxable estate, providing tax-free liquidity to your heirs to pay estate taxes. Establishing an ILIT typically costs $3,000 to $6,000 .
Couples with estates well above the New York exemption use SLATs to move assets out of both the federal and the New York taxable estate while one spouse retains indirect access. These complex irrevocable trusts allow one spouse to benefit from the assets while removing them from the taxable estate. SLATs demand meticulous drafting and generally start at $8,000 to $15,000+ .
When interviewing attorneys, you must understand how they charge. The billing structure significantly impacts your final cost.
Some attorneys charge by the hour (often $400 to $800+ per hour in NYC) for drafting documents. This is dangerous. It penalizes you for asking questions. Every phone call and email increases your bill. This structure discourages communication and often leads to poorly understood estate plans.
At Morgan Legal Group, we believe in absolute transparency. We utilize Flat Fee Billing for estate planning. After our initial consultation, we quote you a single, comprehensive price. This covers the design, the drafting, the revisions, the signing ceremony, and the funding instructions.
You can call us with questions without fear of receiving a surprise invoice. We want you to fully understand your plan. Flat fee billing aligns our goals perfectly with yours.
Let us illustrate the true cost of planning versus the true cost of ignorance through a hypothetical scenario. Meet Sarah.
Sarah owns a $2 million brownstone and has $500,000 in investments. She has two adult children. She is debating whether to hire an attorney.
Sarah passes away unexpectedly without a plan. Her estate falls into intestacy. Her children must hire a probate attorney . The court process takes 18 months. Her estate pays $1,250 in filing fees, $75,000 in statutory executor commissions, and $25,000 in legal fees. Furthermore, her estate triggers the NY Estate Tax Cliff, resulting in a $130,000 tax bill.
Total Cost of Doing Nothing: Over $230,000.
Sarah hires Morgan Legal Group. She pays a flat fee of $6,500 for a comprehensive Revocable Living Trust package with tax planning clauses. When she passes away, her assets transfer privately within weeks. There are zero probate fees, zero executor commissions, and the tax clauses successfully defeat the NY Cliff.
Total Cost of Planning: $6,500.
Sarah’s $6,500 investment saved her family over $223,000. This is the financial reality of New York estate planning.
In 2026, the internet is flooded with $99 online Will templates. We must address this. These forms are legal landmines.
New York has incredibly strict execution laws (EPTL 3-2.1). If you sign a DIY Will improperly, or if a beneficiary acts as a witness, the Surrogate’s Court will invalidate the document completely. We have built a significant portion of our practice fixing the disasters caused by online forms.
Litigating a defective Will or fighting family law battles over ambiguous language costs tens of thousands of dollars. You cannot code human nuance into a generic algorithm. You need a human architect.
When you hire a premier NYC law firm, you are not buying a stack of paper. You are investing in high-level counsel.
The cost of estate planning is deeply tied to the quality of the practitioner. You need a firm with proven authority in the New York courts.
Estate planning, probate, and elder law are the core of our practice. Experience across more than 1,000 estate matters means we anticipate problems before they arise, and more than 900 published client reviews across all platforms reflect how we work.
We provide elite representation without the opaque billing practices of traditional Manhattan mega-firms. We offer elite strategy, clear communication, and flat-fee transparency.
How much does estate planning cost in NYC? It costs a fraction of what probate, taxes, and litigation will cost your family if you fail to act.
Do not view estate planning as an expense. View it as the final, ultimate gift of protection you provide for the people you love.
Take the definitive step to protect your wealth today. Schedule a consultation with Morgan Legal Group. We will review your assets, discuss your goals, and provide a clear, transparent flat-fee quote to secure your legacy. For immediate assistance, please contact us directly. You can also visit our offices or reach out via our Google Business Profile . We are ready to build your fortress.
Article Author
Founder & Principal Attorney
Admitted in New York · decades of estate practice
Surrogate's Court representation for executors and beneficiaries.
Learn MoreRevocable and irrevocable trusts, pour-over wills, funding strategy.
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Learn MoreDetailed answers to the questions estate planning clients ask most often in New York.
Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with Russel Morgan, Esq. No pressure, no boilerplate — a real conversation about your family, your assets, and the plan that fits.
