Great Neck Trusts for High-Net-Worth Estate Planning

Marchese & Maynard, LLP evaluates control needs, asset protection goals, and tax exposure to recommend trust structures. The right choice depends on whether flexibility or creditor shielding takes priority for your estate.

Marchese & Maynard, LLP walks clients through the tradeoff most people miss upfront: revocable trusts preserve your ability to amend or dissolve the arrangement, but they generally offer limited protection from creditors or estate tax inclusion. Irrevocable trusts can lock in terms at signing, which means you may surrender direct control in exchange for potentially removing assets from your taxable estate and helping to shield them from lawsuits. One thing that catches families off guard is discovering that Medicaid eligibility rules treat revocable trust assets as countable resources, while properly structured irrevocable trusts may help protect those same funds if established and funded prior to New York's applicable lookback period.

Marchese & Maynard, LLP structures special needs trusts, spendthrift trusts, and generation-skipping trusts when families need asset protection alongside beneficiary restrictions. The right structure depends on custody arrangements, disability benefits, and creditor exposure.

One thing that catches families off guard is discovering that a standard revocable trust can disqualify a disabled beneficiary from Medicaid or SSI within weeks of distribution. Marchese & Maynard, LLP builds trusts around the actual friction points in your family structure, not generic templates. If you have a beneficiary with addiction issues, a spendthrift provision restricts access while preserving the inheritance. When a child receives government assistance, a properly drafted supplemental needs trust keeps those benefits intact while funding quality-of-life expenses the state won't cover.

If your estate plan needs to account for a vulnerable beneficiary or complicated custody dynamics, Marchese & Maynard, LLP can walk through which trust provisions actually solve the problem without creating new ones.

Funding failures can occur when assets remain titled in personal names instead of being transferred into the trust. Without proper retitling of accounts, deeds, and beneficiary designations, the trust structure may provide limited actual protection or probate avoidance.

A trust document sitting in a drawer does nothing unless assets are formally transferred into it. The most common breakdown happens after signing, when families assume the legal work is complete. Real estate needs new deeds recorded. Bank accounts require retitling paperwork. Brokerage accounts must be transferred or designated. Life insurance policies need beneficiary updates.

Assets That Families Routinely Leave Outside the Trust Structure:

One pattern we see repeatedly is families who complete the trust setup but never circle back for the asset transfer phase. Six months later, nothing has moved. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Assets in a revocable trust remain accessible to a successor trustee who manages them according to the trust terms during incapacity. Irrevocable trusts continue under their original terms, with the designated trustee maintaining control regardless of the grantor's condition.

One thing that catches families off guard is how quickly incapacity planning becomes relevant. Assets in a revocable trust transfer to the named successor trustee, who steps in without court involvement to pay bills, manage investments, or handle property decisions. Irrevocable trusts operate independently, so the grantor's incapacity doesn't alter management. Without a funded trust, families may face guardianship proceedings that can stretch months and incur significant costs.

Irrevocable trusts can help shield assets from future creditor claims because the grantor surrenders legal ownership, but revocable trusts generally offer limited protection since the grantor retains control. Fraudulent transfer laws may void protection if the trust was created to dodge existing debts.

The honest answer is that asset protection depends entirely on whether the grantor gave up control. If you establish an irrevocable trust and genuinely transfer ownership to the trustee, those assets typically fall outside your personal estate and become harder for creditors to reach in a lawsuit. The timing matters more than most people expect. If you move assets into a trust while a lawsuit is pending or after you know a claim is coming, judges will often unwind the transfer as fraudulent conveyance. Under New York's Uniform Voidable Transactions Act (UVTA), the statute of limitations to challenge a transfer made with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud is generally four years from the transfer, or one year from when the transfer was or reasonably could have been discovered, but in no event later than six years after the transfer.