Estate Planning Attorney on Long Island

90 Years of Trusted Estate Planning for Long Island Families

At Blumberg, Cherkoss, Fitz Gibbons, Blumberg, we know your estate represents a lifetime of work, care, and intention. Long Island residents face planning considerations shaped by New York’s estate tax structure, high residential property values across Nassau and Suffolk counties, and the procedural requirements of local Surrogate’s Courts. We’ve been advising families and business owners on those exact issues since 1935, and every client works directly with a seasoned attorney from start to finish.

A complete estate plan does more than distribute assets. It protects what you’ve built, helps ensure your wishes are followed, and reduces the legal complexity your family can face. Free consultations are available with no obligation.

Contact our estate planning lawyers on Long Island at (631) 449-7699 to schedule a free consultation.

Comprehensive Estate Planning Services on Long Island

We work with individuals, families, and business owners across Long Island to create plans that reflect both legal requirements and personal priorities. Our services cover every stage of the planning process.

• Wills and Trusts Design: We draft wills and develop customized trust strategies based on your goals. For many clients in Nassau and Suffolk counties, a will is only one part of a broader plan. We often recommend trusts to maintain privacy, avoid lengthy Surrogate’s Court proceedings, and provide long-term financial management for loved ones. This can include revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts, or tools such as supplemental needs trusts.
• Power of Attorney and Advance Directives: We prepare durable powers of attorney and health care proxies that clearly designate who can make financial and medical decisions on your behalf, helping you avoid the cost and stress of a guardianship proceeding.
• Asset Protection Planning: For Long Island professionals and business owners, we help evaluate strategies such as trust planning, business structuring, and beneficiary designations to reduce exposure to potential claims while coordinating with tax and retirement planning to ensure everything works together.
• Probate and Estate Administration: We guide families through the probate process in Nassau and Suffolk County courts, assisting with filings, asset distribution, and legal requirements after a loved one’s passing, with the goal of making a difficult time as manageable as possible.

Estate planning on Long Island requires careful coordination with New York law, tax considerations, and the realities of your family’s situation. We take the time to understand your circumstances and build a plan that protects your legacy for the long term.

Why Long Island Families Choose Our Firm

Since 1935, Blumberg, Cherkoss, Fitz Gibbons, Blumberg has been a trusted legal resource for individuals, families, and businesses throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties. What sets us apart isn’t just longevity. It’s the depth of service that history reflects.

When you work with our firm, you can expect:

• 90 years of continuous service to Long Island clients: a track record that reflects institutional familiarity with Nassau and Suffolk County courts, including the Surrogate’s Court proceedings that govern estates in this region.
• Direct access to attorneys, so you work one-on-one with the lawyer handling your matter, including partners such as Joshua Blumberg, rather than being handed off to junior staff or paralegals.
• A fully integrated legal team whose estate planning attorneys collaborate daily with colleagues in real estate, matrimonial law, elder law, and litigation. That integration matters when your plan touches a second marriage, a multigenerational property, or a closely held business. When multiple firms work independently, gaps can emerge. We work to reduce that risk by coordinating your estate planning with related legal issues through attorneys working under the same roof.
• Responsive communication that includes timely updates, clear explanations, and attorneys who are available evenings and weekends when questions arise.
• Appellate depth and broad court standing as a firm admitted to practice before all New York courts and local Federal Courts. Other law firms regularly call on us to handle appeals: a reflection of the rigor we bring to legal research and advocacy in every matter we take on.

The Estate Planning Process: What to Expect

Estate planning can feel overwhelming, but we structure the process to be clear, organized, and tailored to your needs. From your first meeting through long-term updates, our goal is a plan that evolves with your life and stays effective under New York law.

• Initial consultation and goal setting: We begin with a detailed conversation about your assets, family structure, and long-term objectives. Bringing existing estate documents and a list of key individuals or organizations allows us to identify gaps quickly and align your plan with your priorities and applicable New York law.
• Customized planning and drafting: We prepare tailored documents designed to reflect your wishes and comply with legal requirements, and we consider how different tools, such as wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations, work together as a cohesive strategy rather than independently.
• Review, explanation, and refinement: We walk you through each document in plain language, explaining how it functions in practice and how Long Island Surrogate’s Courts may interpret it. Your feedback shapes this stage, and we revise until the plan accurately reflects your intentions.
• Implementation and coordination: Once documents are finalized, we guide you through proper execution and next steps: retitling accounts, updating beneficiary designations, and securely storing originals, so your plan is fully integrated into your financial life, not just a set of documents in a drawer.
• Ongoing updates and long-term support: Estate planning isn’t a one-time event. We recommend periodic reviews after major life changes, shifts in assets, or updates to New York law. Many clients maintain an ongoing relationship with our firm so their plan stays current over time.

Estate Planning Considerations for Nassau & Suffolk County Families

Families in Nassau and Suffolk counties face planning questions shaped by local realities: high real estate values, multigenerational homes, cooperative apartments, and small businesses. A plan designed for a lower-cost region or another state may not address how downstate property is treated in New York probate, or what happens to a cooperative apartment in a Surrogate’s Court proceeding.

Property, Co-ops, & Multi-State Considerations

Cooperative apartment shares are treated as personal property rather than real estate under New York law, which means the rules governing how they pass at death differ from those that apply to fee-simple real estate, and how a co-op is titled can directly affect the outcome. We help you understand how your Long Island home, vacation property, or investment real estate may be handled so you can decide whether additional planning steps are needed.

Many clients also have ties to New York City or other states, which raises questions about where an estate should be administered, which tax rules apply, and whether ancillary probate proceedings are required elsewhere. We regularly advise on matters that cross county or state lines and coordinate with your existing advisors to build a cohesive strategy.

New York Estate Tax & the Cliff Effect

High residential property values in Nassau and Suffolk counties can push estates closer to New York’s estate tax exemption threshold than many families expect. New York’s exemption differs from the federal exemption, and the state imposes a cliff effect: estates that exceed the threshold by more than five percent lose the exemption entirely, making the full estate taxable. That dynamic makes proactive planning relevant for a broader range of Long Island families than in lower-cost regions.

Business Succession Planning

For business owners on Long Island, succession planning is as important as planning for personal assets. Whether you operate a professional practice, a family-owned shop, or a closely held company, we can help you think through who may manage or own the business going forward and how to provide fairness among heirs. Aligning your operating agreements, buy-sell arrangements, and estate documents can reduce the risk of disputes and support a smoother transition when key people retire or pass away.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Estate Planning and Why Does It Matter?

Estate planning means organizing your affairs to manage your assets during your lifetime and distribute them after your death according to your wishes. It protects your family from probate delays, can reduce exposure to taxation, and minimizes the potential for disputes among heirs. It’s important for people at all asset levels, not only the wealthy, because the absence of a plan leaves those decisions to the courts.

How Do Long Island Courts Affect Estate Planning?

New York law governs how wills are executed, how probate proceeds, and how estate disputes are resolved. The Nassau and Suffolk County Surrogate’s Courts handle probate filings and contested estate matters in their respective jurisdictions, and familiarity with those courts matters when a proceeding arises. Our attorneys have practiced before both Surrogate’s Courts for decades and use that working knowledge to build plans designed to hold up and to handle any proceedings efficiently when they do.

How Often Should My Estate Plan Be Updated?

We recommend reviewing your plan every three to five years, or whenever you experience a significant life change: marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or a substantial shift in assets. Changes in tax law can also require adjustments. Our attorneys proactively inform clients of legal updates that may affect their plans, so your documents can stay current and accurately reflect your circumstances.

Can I Set Up a Trust in New York?

Yes. New York recognizes both revocable and irrevocable trusts as valid planning tools. Trusts offer privacy, probate avoidance, and potential tax advantages, and they can be structured to distribute assets to beneficiaries under specific conditions. We design trusts suited to each client’s financial situation and family needs, and we coordinate trust planning with the rest of your estate documents so everything works together.

What Makes Blumberg, Cherkoss, Fitz Gibbons, Blumberg the Right Choice for Estate Planning on Long Island?

We bring 90 years of service to Long Island individuals, families, and businesses, combined with direct attorney access and genuine familiarity with Nassau and Suffolk County law. As a full-service firm, we draw attorneys from real estate, family law, elder law, and litigation into the planning conversation, so your estate documents account for the full picture of your legal life, not just the pieces that fall within a single practice area.

Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Estate Planning Attorneys on Long Island

Whether you’re starting your first estate plan or updating one that no longer reflects your life, we’re ready to help. At Blumberg, Cherkoss, Fitz Gibbons, Blumberg, you’ll work directly with attorneys who know Long Island law, understand how estate planning intersects with your broader legal and financial picture, and are committed to keeping your plan current as your circumstances change.

Contact us today at (631) 449-7699 to schedule a free consultation with our estate planning lawyers on Long Island.