Private Estate Planning Attorney

What Actually Becomes Public When an Estate Goes Through Probate

New York Surrogate's Court files are public records. When a will is offered for probate, the court file typically ends up containing:

• The will itself, including every specific bequest and every dollar figure written into it.
• The petition, which states the approximate value of the estate's personal property and real property.
• The names and addresses of your distributees — your legal next of kin — whether or not you left them anything. Anyone you disinherited must still be identified and served.
• The identity of your executor, along with a mailing address.
• Creditor claims and any accounting filed later in the proceeding, which can lay out the estate's assets item by item.

None of this is sealed by default, and a growing number of court records are indexed and resold by online data aggregators. If you want a fuller explanation of the mechanics — when exactly a will crosses the line from private paper to public filing — we cover that in our companion article on keeping your estate plan out of the public record in New York. This page is about what our office does to prevent that filing from ever being necessary.

How We Keep Your Estate Plan Private

1. We map every asset and how it currently transfers. Privacy is decided asset by asset, not by document. We build a full schedule of your accounts, real property, business interests, and policies, then identify which ones would land in a court file today.
2. We draft a revocable living trust as the operative document. A trust is a private contract. It is not filed with the Surrogate's Court, it is not registered with New York State, and its terms are disclosed only to the people you decide should see them. Your successor trustee steps in and administers it without a judge.
3. We actually fund the trust. This is the step that gets skipped, and it is the step that determines whether the plan works. We prepare and record the deeds, re-title the bank and brokerage accounts, assign business and LLC interests, and confirm each transfer went through. An unfunded trust buys you nothing but a filing cabinet.
4. We coordinate every beneficiary designation. Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, and transfer-on-death accounts pass by contract, outside of probate — but only if the designations are current, correctly worded, and consistent with the trust. We review each one and fix the ones pointing at an ex-spouse, a deceased beneficiary, or "my estate."
5. We add the privacy layers around the trust. That can mean a discreetly drafted pour-over will as a backstop, a durable power of attorney and health care proxy so no one has to open a public guardianship proceeding if you become incapacitated, and — where the family situation warrants it — a no-contest provision and a structure designed to discourage a challenge from ever being filed.
6. We keep the plan current. Privacy erodes quietly. A newly purchased property, a refinance that pulled the house out of the trust, a rolled-over 401(k), a new grandchild. We review the plan with you periodically and re-title anything that has drifted back into your individual name.

The Part That Trips People Up: A Will Alone Cannot Be Kept Private

Clients often ask whether their will can simply be sealed, or whether the estate can be settled quietly without going to court. In practice, both options are far narrower than people expect.

Sealing a Surrogate's Court file is extraordinary relief. Courts start from a presumption of public access and grant sealing only on a specific showing of good cause — a general preference for privacy is not enough, and it is not something you can arrange in advance.

The other common assumption is that a small estate stays quiet. New York's simplified voluntary administration procedure does move faster and cost less, but it is still a court filing that creates a public record, and it is available only where the personal property is modest. We walk through the mechanics of that track in our discussion of New York small estates and voluntary administration. It is a cost-saving tool, not a privacy tool.

What a Trust Will Not Hide — and How We Handle It

We would rather set expectations honestly than oversell. A few things remain visible even under a well-built plan:

• Real property ownership. A deed transferring your home into your trust is recorded, so the transfer itself is searchable. What stays private is the trust's terms — the beneficiaries, the shares, and the conditions. Where appropriate, we can structure the holding entity to reduce how much your name appears.
• Estate tax filings. If the estate is large enough to require a New York or federal estate tax return, that return must be filed. It is not a public court record, but it is a disclosure, and we plan for it alongside the privacy work handled by our estate planning team.
• A contested matter. If someone sues the trustee, the dispute enters the court system and the trust's terms come with it. The strongest privacy protection is a plan built to withstand a challenge in the first place — which is why we draft with our estate litigation experience in mind.
• Incapacity without documents. A guardianship proceeding is public and invasive. A properly drafted power of attorney and health care proxy — the core of our elder law practice — keeps that off the docket.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a will public record in New York?

Not while you are alive, and not immediately after death. A will becomes a public record once it is filed with the Surrogate's Court and offered for probate — at that point anyone can request the file.

Does a living trust keep my estate out of the public record?

Yes, for the assets actually titled in the trust's name. The trust is a private document that is never filed with the court, so its terms and beneficiaries stay confidential.

Can I ask the Surrogate's Court to seal my will?

Sealing is rare and requires a specific showing of good cause to a judge. It is not something you can arrange in advance, which is why privacy is built into the plan rather than requested from the court.

Will my beneficiaries' names still appear anywhere if I use a trust?

Not in a public court file. Your successor trustee shares the relevant portions of the trust only with the beneficiaries and institutions that need to see them.

How much does a private, trust-based estate plan cost?

It depends on the number of assets that need to be retitled and the complexity of your family situation. We quote a flat fee after the initial consultation so there are no surprises — call (347) 766-2685 to discuss it.

If you would rather your family's finances never appear in a court file, the time to fix that is now, while everything is still in your hands. Call our office for a free phone consultation, or reach us through our contact page, and we will tell you plainly what your current plan would expose.

Law Offices of Roman Aminov