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What Are the Risks of an Online Living Trust in New York? - Davies Law Firm · BSPE Legal Marketing Podcast

• 0:00
  What Are the Risks of an Online Living Trust in New York?
• 0:02
  Thousands of New Yorkers purchase online living trust templates each year believing they have fully protected their assets, only to discover critical legal gaps when it matters most.
• 0:12
  A trust document downloaded from the internet is not automatically invalid in New York, but failing to meet the state's specific execution requirements creates serious legal and practical risks that can haunt families for years.
• 0:24
  Those risks include execution defects, assets unintentionally left outside the trust, incomplete real estate transfers, and provisions that simply do not align with New York property or tax rules.
• 0:35
  Under EPTL Section 7-1.17, a lifetime trust in New York must be in writing and properly acknowledged by the trustor and, unless the trustor is the sole trustee, by at least one trustee.
• 0:48
  As an alternative to acknowledgment, the trust can be executed before two witnesses who sign the instrument, following the same strict formalities used for recording a real property conveyance.
• 0:58
  An online form can silently omit a required trustee signature or fail to provide a valid execution method, leaving the entire trust vulnerable to a legal challenge years after it was signed.
• 1:09
  Because no court clerk reviews a trust document at signing, an execution defect can remain completely unnoticed until the trust is examined after incapacity or death, which is precisely the worst moment to discover the problem.
• 1:21
  Even a perfectly signed trust can fail if the assets inside it were never properly transferred, because under EPTL Section 7-1.18, simply listing an asset in the trust document does not complete the transfer.
• 1:34
  Real property requires a properly prepared and recorded deed conveying the property to the trustee, bank and brokerage accounts must be retitled to reflect trust ownership, and closely held business interests involve transfer restrictions that many DIY filers overlook entirely.
• 1:49
  Life insurance and retirement accounts like IRAs and 401(k)s require careful beneficiary designation reviews, because naming the trust incorrectly without proper tax analysis can create costly distribution consequences for your heirs.
• 2:03
  When a defectively executed trust cannot be relied upon, property falls back into the probate estate and is administered under the will or, if no valid will exists, under New York's intestacy rules through the Surrogate's Court.
• 2:15
  An attorney at Davies Law Firm can review a self-prepared trust, identify execution or funding issues, and guide you through every legal step needed to address them before those problems become irreversible.
• 2:26
  Frederick P. Davies and William P. Davies are experienced estate planning lawyers who serve individuals and families throughout Central New York with living trusts and comprehensive estate planning needs.
• 2:36
  Protecting your family's future is too important to leave to a generic template, so contact Davies Law Firm at 315, 472, 6511, located at 210 E Fayette St, Syracuse, NY 13202, United States, to schedule your trust review today.