Personal. Protective. Powerful.

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.

Call our Wills, Trusts, and Estates team today at (516) 437-4385 or contact us online.

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

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.

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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

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

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

Prenuptial, postnuptial, and other martial agreements
Planning for divorced and single parents
Court-appointed representation of minors
Maintenance and child support payments and planning
Insurance policies for spousal and child support in the event of death
Family law aspects of mental, emotional, or physical health and care issues in estate planning and elder care planning
Estate planning and administration for adoptions and guardianships
Establishing paternity for estate purposes

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

Call us today at (516) 437-4385 or contact us online. Video conferencing available.

Testimonials

“He was there for me, treated me with respect and won for me”
- Laura C.
“Thank you for all of your help”
- Kristin S.
“Fast and painless.”
- Thomas S.
“Mr. Apat saved me”
- Jhon T.
“The experience was nothing short of outstanding”
- Daryl M.

Meet Our Adulting 101℠ Team

What Sets Us Apart

Convenient locations in Long Island, New York City, and New Jersey
Personal Attention, Powerful Representation
Comprehensive Legal Service Customized to Each Client
Cutting-Edge Legal and Business Solutions
Cost-Effective Counsel

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