Fratello Law

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Free Estate Planning Consultation
Free Estate Planning Consultation

Trust Attorney in Centereach, NY

Protect Your Family's Assets and Future

Your life’s work deserves protection that actually works when you need it most.

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Call: 631-406-5580

Asset Protection Trust Services

Keep What You've Built Safe

You’ve spent decades building something meaningful. Your home, your savings, your peace of mind. Now you need to make sure it stays protected when life throws you curveballs. A properly structured trust doesn’t just organize your assets—it creates a legal fortress around them. Your family home stays in the family. Your savings can’t be wiped out by a single medical emergency or lawsuit. Your children inherit what you intended, not what’s left after probate fees and taxes.

The difference between hoping your assets stay safe and knowing they’re protected comes down to one thing: having the right legal structure in place before you need it. That’s where we come in.

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Centereach Trust Lawyer

Local Knowledge You Can Trust

We understand what Long Island families face. We know the local landscape—from Suffolk County’s property values to the reality that nursing home costs here can hit $600,000 for three years of care.

We’ve been helping Centereach families navigate these challenges with personalized attention that larger firms can’t match. Our bilingual services in Spanish and Italian reflect our community’s diversity, and our willingness to meet you at home, in the hospital, or at a care facility shows we understand that legal planning shouldn’t add stress to already difficult times.

When you work with us, you’re not just getting legal documents. You’re getting a partner who knows the local considerations that matter to your family’s future.

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Trust Creation Process

Clear Steps, No Confusion

First, we sit down and really understand your situation. Not just your assets, but your concerns, your family dynamics, and what keeps you up at night. This isn’t about selling you the most expensive option—it’s about finding what actually works for your specific circumstances.

Next, we design a trust structure that fits your goals. Whether that’s protecting your home from Medicaid spend-down, ensuring your disabled child has lifetime support, or simply avoiding probate delays for your family, we craft documents that do exactly what you need them to do.

Finally, we handle the implementation and make sure everything is properly funded and documented. We don’t just hand you papers and wish you luck. We ensure your trust is set up correctly from day one, and we’re here for questions and updates as your life changes.

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Trust Administration Services

Complete Trust Solutions for Centereach

Our trust services cover everything from simple revocable living trusts to complex irrevocable structures for asset protection. We handle trust creation, administration, and ongoing management to ensure your wishes are carried out exactly as intended.

For Long Island families, this means addressing specific local challenges. High property values here make probate particularly expensive and time-consuming. Our living trusts help your family avoid these costs entirely. The region’s aging population faces significant long-term care expenses, which our Medicaid asset protection trusts can help address while preserving family wealth.

We also understand that many Centereach families are multi-generational, often caring for aging parents while supporting young children. Our trust structures can protect assets across generations, ensuring that your parents’ care needs don’t compromise your children’s inheritance, and that your own future care is secured without devastating your family’s financial security.

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How does a trust help me avoid probate in New York?

When you create a living trust and properly transfer your assets into it, those assets are no longer considered part of your probate estate when you die. This means your family doesn’t have to go through the court system to access them. In New York, probate can take months or even years, especially with higher-value estates common on Long Island. During this time, your assets may be frozen, creating financial hardship for your family. A trust allows your successor trustee to immediately access and distribute assets according to your wishes. The savings can be substantial. Probate involves court fees, attorney fees, and often appraisal costs. With Long Island’s high property values, these expenses add up quickly. A trust eliminates most of these costs and gives your family immediate access to the resources they need.
Yes, but timing is crucial. An irrevocable trust can protect your home from being counted as an asset for Medicaid eligibility, but there’s a five-year lookback period in New York. This means you need to transfer your home to the trust at least five years before applying for Medicaid benefits. The trust must be properly structured to comply with Medicaid rules. You can often retain the right to live in the home for life, but you cannot retain the legal right to sell it or take it back. This is why working with an experienced attorney is essential—mistakes can result in penalties or disqualification. For many Long Island families, this planning is critical. With nursing home costs reaching $600,000 for a three-year stay, protecting the family home through proper trust planning can preserve hundreds of thousands of dollars for your spouse and children.
A revocable trust gives you complete control—you can change it, add or remove assets, or cancel it entirely at any time. It’s primarily used for avoiding probate and managing assets if you become incapacitated. However, because you retain control, the assets are still considered yours for tax and creditor protection purposes. An irrevocable trust, once created, cannot be easily changed or revoked. This loss of control is actually its strength—because you no longer legally own the assets, they’re protected from creditors, lawsuits, and Medicaid spend-down requirements. The assets also may be removed from your taxable estate. The choice depends on your goals. If you want flexibility and probate avoidance, a revocable trust works well. If you need asset protection from creditors, lawsuits, or long-term care costs, an irrevocable trust is usually necessary. Many families use both types for different purposes.
Trust costs vary based on complexity, but the investment is typically far less than the problems a trust can prevent. A basic revocable living trust might cost a few thousand dollars, while complex irrevocable trusts for asset protection can cost more, but often save tens or hundreds of thousands in avoided probate costs, taxes, and long-term care expenses. Consider the alternatives: probate in New York can cost 3-7% of your estate value in fees and expenses. For a $500,000 estate, that’s $15,000-$35,000 in costs your family will pay. A nursing home stay can cost $600,000 over three years on Long Island. Proper trust planning can help avoid or minimize these expenses. We provide clear, upfront pricing so you know exactly what to expect. We also offer payment plans when needed because we believe cost shouldn’t prevent you from protecting your family’s future. The consultation is always free, so you can understand your options without any financial commitment.
The best time to create a trust is while you’re healthy and have time to plan properly. Many people wait until they’re facing a health crisis or immediate need for long-term care, but this limits your options significantly. For asset protection purposes, especially Medicaid planning, the five-year lookback period means you need to plan well in advance. If you’re in your 50s or 60s, now is the ideal time to consider irrevocable trust planning. For probate avoidance and incapacity planning, a revocable trust makes sense as soon as you have significant assets. Life changes also trigger the need for trust planning: marriage, divorce, birth of children or grandchildren, receiving an inheritance, or starting a business. If you own real estate on Long Island, have retirement accounts, or run a business, trust planning should be part of your overall financial strategy.
Most trusts are designed to remain valid regardless of where you live, but state law differences can affect administration and tax treatment. New York trusts are generally recognized in other states, and the trust document typically specifies which state’s laws govern the trust. However, moving can create complications. Different states have different rules about trust taxation, asset protection, and Medicaid planning. Some states are more favorable to certain types of trusts than others. If you’re planning to relocate, it’s important to review your trust with an attorney in your new state. The key is proper initial planning. When we create your trust, we consider potential future moves and structure the document to provide maximum flexibility. We can also work with attorneys in other states to ensure smooth transitions if you relocate. The goal is creating a trust that protects your interests regardless of where life takes you.

Local Resources

Centereach, NY is located in Suffolk County in New York State