Estate Law Long Island

Estate planning on Long Island means putting four core instruments in place — a will, one or more trusts, a power of attorney, and a health care proxy — so that your home, savings, and family are protected on your terms. In New York, the substance of these documents is governed by the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL), while the procedure for settling an estate runs through the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA). On Long Island, venue is determined by your county of domicile: a Nassau County resident’s estate is administered by the Nassau County Surrogate’s Court in Mineola, and a Suffolk County resident’s estate by the Suffolk County Surrogate’s Court in Riverhead. Knowing which county — and which courthouse — applies is the first practical step in any Long Island estate plan.

Why Long Island estate planning is its own thing

Long Island estates do not look like Manhattan estates. Here, the centerpiece of most families’ wealth is a single-family or waterfront home that passes as real property — by deed, recorded with the county clerk — rather than the cooperative apartment shares that dominate the city. That difference matters. Real property has to be titled, transferred, and sometimes probated in a specific way, and a home held in one spouse’s name alone often forces an estate through Surrogate’s Court even when the family assumed everything would pass automatically.

Long Island home values also create a tax problem many residents never see coming. New York imposes its own estate tax with a notorious “cliff”: once an estate exceeds the basic exclusion amount by more than five percent, the entire exclusion vanishes and the whole estate is taxed from the first dollar. For 2026 the basic exclusion is $7,350,000, and an estate above roughly $7,717,500 forfeits it entirely. With a paid-off Nassau or Suffolk home, a retirement account, and life insurance, an estate can drift over that threshold quietly. Planning ahead — through trusts, gifting, and titling — is how Long Island families keep more of what they built.

Finally, venue is split. There is no single “Long Island” court. Nassau and Suffolk each run their own Surrogate’s Court, their own clerks, and their own calendars, so the right starting point depends entirely on where the decedent lived.

Start here: the core estate-planning pillars

• A clear, properly executed last will and testament that directs who receives your Long Island property.
• The right kind of revocable or irrevocable trust to hold your home and avoid unnecessary court involvement.
• A durable power of attorney so someone you trust can manage your affairs if you cannot.
• A coordinated estate plan that ties these documents together as one strategy.
• An understanding of how the probate process works in Surrogate’s Court before your family ever faces it.
• Forward-looking Medicaid and long-term care planning to protect the home from nursing-home spend-down.
• For many families, a combined wills-and-trusts approach offers the cleanest path.

How estate planning works on Long Island, at a glance

1. Take inventory: list your Long Island real property, accounts, retirement assets, and life insurance, and note how each is titled.
2. Choose your people: name an executor, a trustee, an agent under your power of attorney, and a health care agent.
3. Decide your plan: determine whether a will alone is enough or whether a trust should hold your home to avoid probate.
4. Execute correctly: sign your will under EPTL 3-2.1 — your signature at the end of the document, in the presence of two witnesses who also sign.
5. Fund and align: retitle assets into your trust where appropriate and confirm beneficiary designations match your plan.
6. Review periodically: revisit the plan after a move, a sale, a marriage, a birth, or a change in New York’s estate tax thresholds.

Local court & statute snapshot

Common questions

Which Surrogate’s Court will handle a Long Island estate? It depends on where the decedent was domiciled. Under SCPA 205, venue lies in the county of domicile, so a Nassau resident’s estate is filed at the Nassau County Surrogate’s Court in Mineola, while a Suffolk resident’s estate is filed at the Suffolk County Surrogate’s Court in Riverhead.

Do I need a trust if I own a Long Island home? Not always, but often it is the smartest move. A home titled in one person’s name typically has to pass through probate, while a home held in a properly funded trust can transfer to your family without court involvement and can help shield it from long-term care costs and the New York estate tax cliff.

How long does probate take in Nassau or Suffolk? An uncontested estate commonly takes several months to a year, depending on the court’s calendar, whether all heirs can be located and consent, and how complex the assets are. Contested matters or missing beneficiaries can extend that timeline considerably in either county.

About this resource

This resource is provided by Morgan Legal Group, an estate-planning firm serving families across Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The firm is led by attorney Russel Morgan, who counsels Long Island clients on wills, trusts, probate, powers of attorney, and Medicaid planning. For a confidential conversation about your situation, you can reach the firm at (888) 529-1315.

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