If you've ever watched a family member wait nearly a year for Brooklyn's Kings County Surrogate's Court to release funds after a loved one passed, you already know why avoiding probate matters. It's not just the fees — which according to a 2025 Zeus Estate Planning analysis can run from 3% to 7% of the total estate value in New York, meaning a $500,000 estate could cost between $15,000 and $35,000 to probate — it's the frozen bank accounts, delayed home sales, and stress piled on people who are already grieving.
The good news is that a well-built estate plan can keep your family out of Surrogate's Court entirely. Here's what to include.
A revocable living trust — but only if it's actually funded
A revocable living trust is the single most effective tool for avoiding probate in New York. You transfer your assets into the trust during your lifetime, name yourself as trustee, and designate a successor trustee to take over at death. Assets held in the trust pass directly to your beneficiaries — no court required.
The catch — and this is where many Brooklyn families get burned — is that the trust only works if it's properly funded. That means retitling your home, bank accounts, and other assets into the trust's name. A trust sitting in a folder with nothing in it doesn't avoid probate. It's just paper.
For Brooklyn homeowners, funding usually means a new deed transferring the property from you individually to you as trustee. Co-ops add another layer, since the board often requires its own assignment paperwork and approval. This is one reason why working with an attorney who understands local real estate dynamics matters so much. At Alatsas Law Firm, we walk Brooklyn families through every step of this process — from drafting the trust to making sure every asset is properly retitled.
Updated beneficiary designations on financial accounts
Many of your most valuable accounts can bypass probate through simple beneficiary designations — no trust required.
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Retirement accounts (IRAs, 401(k)s) pass directly to the named beneficiary
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Life insurance policies work the same way
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Payable-on-death (POD) bank accounts transfer immediately to the person you designate
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Transfer-on-death (TOD) designations apply to brokerage and investment accounts
These are among the cleanest probate-avoidance tools available. The problem is that people set them up once and forget about them. If your beneficiary designations are outdated — naming an ex-spouse, a deceased parent, or simply no one — those accounts can still end up going through Surrogate's Court. Review them after any major life change: marriage, divorce, a new child, a death in the family.
Joint ownership, used carefully
Property owned jointly with the right of survivorship passes automatically to the surviving owner. New York recognizes two main forms:
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Joint tenancy with right of survivorship — available to any co-owners
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Tenancy by the entirety — available only to married couples for real estate, with additional creditor protection built in
Joint ownership works well as part of a coordinated plan. Used as a quick fix, it creates new problems. Adding an adult child to your deed or bank account exposes those assets to that child's creditors or divorce proceedings. It can also create sibling tension if one child is on title and others aren't. Think it through before adding anyone.
A pour-over will as your backstop
Even the best trust-based plan should include a pour-over will. If you die owning assets in your individual name that were never moved into your trust, the pour-over will directs those assets into the trust — though they may still require a limited probate proceeding to get there.
A standalone will does not avoid probate. It actually directs the probate process. But paired with a properly funded trust, a pour-over will closes the gaps. These two documents belong together.
New York's small estate threshold is $50,000 in personal property (excluding real estate). If what's left outside your trust stays under that number, the family may be able to use a simplified voluntary administration process at Kings County Surrogate's Court — a much faster and cheaper option than full probate.
Durable power of attorney and healthcare proxy
These documents don't directly avoid probate, but they prevent a different kind of legal crisis: the scramble that happens when someone becomes incapacitated without having named anyone to act on their behalf.
A durable power of attorney lets a trusted person handle your financial and legal affairs if you can't. A healthcare proxy does the same for medical decisions. Without them, your family may need to go to court to have a guardian appointed — expensive, slow, and hard on everyone involved.
For many Brooklyn families, especially those navigating aging parents, these documents are the most immediately useful part of an estate plan. They protect you while you're alive, not just after.
The Medicaid planning piece people often miss
Here's a question that comes up constantly: "If we avoid probate by putting the house in a trust, does that also protect it from nursing home costs?"
Not necessarily. A revocable living trust avoids probate but does not protect assets from Medicaid spend-down. To do both, some families use an irrevocable Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT). Assets transferred into a MAPT are removed from your estate, bypass probate at death, and — after New York's five-year look-back period — are no longer counted for Medicaid eligibility purposes.
The trade-off is that you give up direct control over those assets. It's not right for everyone, but for Brooklyn families worried about nursing home costs eating through a lifetime of savings, it's worth understanding. This is where a broader elder law perspective, like the approach taken by attorney Ted Alatsas with nearly 30 years of experience serving Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island families, can make a real difference.
What happens if you do nothing
Without any of these tools in place, your estate goes through full probate in Kings County Surrogate's Court. The process typically takes 9 to 18 months in New York, according to the NY Wills and Estates blog citing 2024 court data. Your family needs executor authority to access bank accounts, sell the home, or transfer any titled property. And everything filed with the court becomes a matter of public record.
For most families, that's not the outcome they'd choose if they knew the alternative.
Putting it all together
The strongest Brooklyn estate plans combine several of these tools — a funded revocable trust, current beneficiary designations, a pour-over will, and the right incapacity documents — rather than relying on any single one. And for families with long-term care concerns, layering in proper Medicaid planning is worth a conversation early, not after a health crisis has already started.
If your current plan is just a will — or you don't have anything at all — it's a good time to take a closer look. The estate planning for business owners and succession planning resources at Alatsas Law Firm are a helpful starting point, and the firm offers free consultations for families in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island who want to understand their options.
Your family shouldn't have to navigate Surrogate's Court during one of the hardest moments of their lives. The right plan means they won't have to.
