How to Set Up a Trust in New York City

By Albert Goodwin, Esq., estate planning attorney admitted to practice in New York. Last reviewed 2025.

A New York trust is created by a sequence of statutory steps, not by a single signature. This page explains how a trust is set up in New York: the signing rules in EPTL 7-1.17, the funding rule in EPTL 7-1.18, the deed and transfer-tax paperwork for New York real property, the co-op share transfer process, the timeline, and what the work costs. If you are still deciding whether a trust makes sense for you, start with our pages on the benefits of a living trust, how a trust avoids probate in New York, and which assets can and cannot go into a revocable trust. This page covers how to get it done.

Five New York Rules That Shape Every Trust

Before the process starts, you need to know the rules the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) imposes on lifetime trusts. They determine how the document is drafted, signed, and funded.

• Age (EPTL 7-1.14): The person creating the trust must be at least 18 years old and must have capacity to understand what the document does.
• Irrevocable by default (EPTL 7-1.16): A New York lifetime trust is irrevocable unless the instrument expressly says it is revocable. A trust that is silent on the point cannot be changed later without a court proceeding or the beneficiaries' consent.
• Writing and acknowledgment (EPTL 7-1.17): The trust must be in writing, signed by the creator, and either acknowledged before a notary in the manner required to record a deed or signed in the presence of two witnesses who also sign. If the creator is not the sole trustee, at least one trustee must also sign and acknowledge.
• No funding, no trust (EPTL 7-1.18): The trust is valid only as to assets actually transferred to it. A recital in the document that you hold property as trustee does not count. If you are the sole trustee, registered assets such as real estate, stocks, and bank accounts must be recorded or re-registered in the trustee's name, and other assets must be assigned in a writing that describes them with particularity.
• Someone else must hold an interest (EPTL 7-1.1): You may serve as your own trustee and receive all the income during your life, but the trust must name at least one other person who holds a beneficial interest, such as the children who take at your death. Otherwise the interests merge and the trust fails.

The Timeline at a Glance

A revocable living trust plan in New York typically takes three to six weeks from the first meeting to signed documents. Funding adds several more weeks, and a deed can take a month or longer to come back from the City Register or County Clerk. Irrevocable plans (Medicaid asset protection trusts, life insurance trusts, spousal lifetime access trusts) usually take longer because the transfers are permanent and have tax and benefits consequences that must be checked first.

1. Planning meeting (Week 1): Goals, asset list, trustee and beneficiary choices, revocable or irrevocable.
2. Drafting and review (Weeks 1 to 4): The attorney prepares the trust and companion documents; you review and request changes.
3. Signing (Weeks 4 to 5): Execution under EPTL 7-1.17 before a notary.
4. Funding (Weeks 5 and after): Deeds recorded, accounts re-registered, co-op shares reassigned, beneficiary designations updated.

Step 1: The Planning Meeting

The first meeting decides the structure. For a New York client, the questions that matter most are: Who will be trustee now, and who takes over if you become incapacitated or die? Does the home go into the trust, and is it a house, a condo, or a co-op? Is Medicaid eligibility a goal, which triggers the 60-month look-back for nursing home Medicaid under Social Services Law 366? Is your estate near the New York estate tax exclusion (indexed annually; $7,160,000 for deaths in 2025), where the "cliff" taxes the entire estate once it exceeds 105 percent of the exclusion? Is there a child from an earlier marriage, a beneficiary receiving SSI or Medicaid, or a beneficiary who should not receive money outright?

What to bring: your current deed (an ACRIS printout is fine for the four boroughs it covers), your co-op stock certificate and proprietary lease if you own a co-op, your most recent mortgage statement, bank and brokerage statements, beneficiary designations for retirement accounts and life insurance, any operating or shareholders' agreement for a business you own, and your existing will, trust, or power of attorney.

Step 2: Revocable or Irrevocable

This decision drives everything that follows. We discuss the reasons for each structure on our living trust, special needs trust, and testamentary trust pages. For the setup process, the New York differences are these:

• Revocable trust: You keep control. Amendments and revocations must follow EPTL 7-1.17(b): in writing, signed, and acknowledged or witnessed in the same way as the original, unless the trust itself provides otherwise. A revocable trust does not reduce New York or federal estate tax and gives no protection from your creditors or from Medicaid spend-down rules.
• Irrevocable trust: Once funded, it can be amended or revoked only with the written, acknowledged consent of every person beneficially interested under EPTL 7-1.9. If any beneficiary is a minor or not yet born, that route is unavailable, and the alternatives are a court proceeding or trustee decanting under EPTL 10-6.6 where the trustee's distribution powers allow it. Transfers to an irrevocable Medicaid trust start the 60-month look-back clock on the date of transfer.
• Testamentary trust: Created inside a will, it does not exist until the Surrogate's Court admits the will to probate, and it offers no probate avoidance.

Step 3: Signing the Trust Under EPTL 7-1.17

At the signing, you execute the trust instrument and acknowledge your signature before a New York notary public. If someone other than you is serving as trustee, that trustee also signs and acknowledges to accept the office. Notarial acknowledgment is the standard practice because it satisfies the statute, matches the formality required to record a deed, and avoids later questions about witness availability. The two-witness alternative is valid but is rarely used by attorneys.

Keep every later amendment to the same standard. An amendment that is merely signed, with no acknowledgment or witnesses, is open to challenge under EPTL 7-1.17(b). The trust should also state clearly that it is revocable, or EPTL 7-1.16 will treat it as irrevocable.

A testamentary trust follows will formalities instead: EPTL 3-2.1 requires the will to be signed at the end by the testator in the presence of two attesting witnesses, who each sign within the same 30-day period. A notary alone is not enough for a will.

Step 4: Funding the Trust

Funding is where New York trust plans most often fail. Under EPTL 7-1.18, the trust owns nothing until title moves. An unfunded revocable trust avoids no probate; every asset left in your own name still goes through the Surrogate's Court. The sections below cover the New York-specific transfers in the order they cause the most trouble.

Houses, condos, and land: the New York deed workflow

The attorney prepares a new deed from you individually to you (or another trustee) as trustee of the trust, acknowledged before a notary. The deed is recorded with the required transfer-tax forms. Where it goes depends on the county:

• Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens: The deed is recorded with the NYC Department of Finance Office of the City Register through ACRIS. The package consists of an ACRIS cover page, the deed, the NYC Real Property Transfer Tax return (NYC-RPT), New York State Form TP-584, and the RP-5217NYC real property transfer report. Each form is generated through the ACRIS system before filing.
• Staten Island: Richmond County is not on ACRIS. The deed is recorded with the Richmond County Clerk. The City transfer tax return still applies because Staten Island is within New York City.
• Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, and the rest of the state: The deed is recorded with the County Clerk with Form TP-584 and the RP-5217. Several counties add their own requirements. Nassau County requires a tax map verification letter from the Department of Assessment for each deed, with its own fee. Yonkers, Mount Vernon, and Peekskill impose city transfer taxes with separate returns. The East End towns of Suffolk County have the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund transfer tax and its own form.

A conveyance from you to yourself as trustee of your own revocable trust is generally exempt from the New York State transfer tax as a mere change of identity or form of ownership with no change in beneficial ownership (Tax Law 1405(b)(6)), and from the New York City transfer tax on the same ground (Administrative Code 11-2106(b)(8)). The exemption is not automatic. The TP-584 and NYC-RPT must still be filed and the exemption claimed on them. A transfer to an irrevocable trust needs separate analysis: if the property is mortgaged, the unpaid mortgage balance can be treated as consideration under Tax Law 1401(d), and the result depends on how the trust is drafted.

If the home has a mortgage, most loan documents contain a due-on-sale clause. The federal Garn-St Germain Act, 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3(d)(8), bars a lender from enforcing that clause on a transfer of a residential property with fewer than five units into a lifetime trust in which the borrower is and remains a beneficiary, so long as the transfer does not change the right to occupy the home. This covers the usual revocable trust transfer and may cover a Medicaid trust in which you retain the right to live in the house, but you should confirm with the servicer before recording and keep making payments in the same way.

After the deed records, three housekeeping items remain. Add the trust to your homeowner's insurance policy as a named insured. Check your owner's title insurance policy; many policies issued on current forms extend coverage to the insured's own trust, while older policies may need an endorsement. Notify the assessor, or the NYC Department of Finance, so that the STAR exemption under Real Property Tax Law 425 and any senior citizen exemption under RPTL 467 continue. Both exemptions are available for a home held in trust for the benefit of the person who lives there, but the exemption file must be updated.

Co-op apartments: a New York City problem

A co-op is not real property for deed purposes. You own shares in the cooperative corporation and a proprietary lease, and the lease almost always requires board consent before the shares can be assigned to anyone, including your own trust. Funding a co-op into a trust therefore means:

• Submitting a transfer application to the board or managing agent. Most boards have a standard trust package that asks for the trust instrument or a summary, an occupancy agreement signed by the trustee confirming who may live in the apartment, and a personal guaranty of maintenance charges from the occupant or beneficiaries.
• Obtaining the board's written consent.
• Signing a stock power and an assignment and assumption of the proprietary lease. The corporation cancels your stock certificate and issues a new one in the trustee's name.
• If there is a share loan, obtaining the lender's consent and a new recognition agreement among the lender, the cooperative, and the trustee.
• Filing Form TP-584 and the NYC-RPT with the Department of Finance. Co-op shares are treated as real property for transfer-tax purposes under Tax Law 1401(e), and the mere-change-of-identity exemption applies, but the returns must be filed.

Some boards refuse trust ownership outright, and some impose a transfer fee or flip tax even on a transfer to the shareholder's own trust. Find out the building's policy before the trust is drafted. If the board will not allow it, the alternative is a pour-over will, which means the apartment will go through probate.

Condominium units are deeded like houses, but many condo bylaws require a waiver of the board's right of first refusal before the deed can be recorded, and the board may charge a processing fee.

Funding checklist by asset class

Retirement accounts deserve a separate warning. Naming a trust as beneficiary of an IRA or 401(k) has income tax consequences under the federal SECURE Act, and the trust needs conduit or accumulation language drafted for that purpose. Naming a general revocable trust without it can shorten the payout period and accelerate tax.

New York funding mistakes we see most often

• Signing and stopping. The trust is executed, the client goes home, and nothing is ever retitled. At death the estate is probated as if the trust never existed.
• Relying on a schedule of assets. Attaching a list of property to the trust does not transfer it. EPTL 7-1.18 says so directly.
• Recording a defective deed. A wrong block and lot, a missing acknowledgment, or an unfiled TP-584 or NYC-RPT gets the deed rejected or clouds title for the next sale.
• Sending a Staten Island deed to ACRIS. Richmond County records are kept by the County Clerk, not the City Register.
• Assigning co-op shares without board consent. The assignment is ineffective under the proprietary lease and can put the lease in default.
• Keeping the home in an irrevocable Medicaid trust and then refinancing, selling, or taking equity as if you still owned it. That conduct undermines the position that the asset is no longer yours.
• Buying a new home or opening a new account after signing and titling it in your own name. Funding continues for life; every significant new asset needs to be checked.

Step 5: The Pour-Over Will and Companion Documents

A New York trust plan includes a pour-over will, authorized by EPTL 3-3.7, which directs any asset still in your name at death into the trust. The pour-over will is a backstop. Anything it catches still passes through probate, so the goal is to fund the trust so completely that the will rarely has to work. The plan also includes a durable power of attorney on the New York statutory short form under General Obligations Law 5-1501B, a health care proxy under Public Health Law Article 29-C, a living will, and a HIPAA authorization. The power of attorney should expressly authorize your agent to transfer assets to the trust, so funding can continue if you lose capacity.

What Setting Up a Trust Costs in New York

The total cost has four parts: the legal fee, government filing fees, third-party charges tied to specific assets, and ongoing trustee compensation. The figures below are general market ranges for the New York City area so you can budget. They are not a quote. We quote a flat fee after the planning meeting once the scope is known.

• Attorney fees: Trust planning in New York is usually billed as a flat fee. A revocable living trust package (trust, pour-over will, power of attorney, health care proxy, and one deed) is commonly priced in the low to mid thousands of dollars. An irrevocable Medicaid asset protection trust plan is commonly priced higher, often roughly double, because the drafting, Medicaid analysis, and funding are more involved. Multi-trust estate tax plans using spousal lifetime access trusts, life insurance trusts, or similar structures are priced on scope.
• Deed recording: Government charges to record one deed generally total a few hundred dollars. At the City Register the base recording fee is $32 plus $5 per page; most County Clerks charge $45 plus $5 per page. Add the $5 TP-584 filing fee and the RP-5217 fee of $125 for one-to-three-family residential property or $250 for other property. Nassau County's tax map verification letter adds its own fee. Fee schedules change, so confirm the current amounts with the Register or Clerk before filing.
• Transfer tax: Usually none for a transfer to your own revocable trust once the exemption is claimed. An irrevocable trust transfer of mortgaged property can produce tax and must be analyzed first.
• Co-op transfer: Boards and managing agents commonly charge application and processing fees, and the cooperative's attorney may charge a fee to review the trust. Some buildings charge a flip tax on trust transfers. These fees vary by building and can run from a few hundred dollars into the thousands.
• Mortgage and title: There is no mortgage recording tax because no new mortgage is recorded. A title endorsement to extend your owner's policy to the trust is usually inexpensive if needed at all.
• Tax identification and returns: A revocable trust uses your Social Security number while you are alive. Most irrevocable trusts obtain an EIN from the IRS at no charge. A non-grantor irrevocable trust files federal Form 1041 and New York Form IT-205 each year, and the preparation cost for those returns is an ongoing expense.
• Trustee compensation: Family members serving as trustee often waive compensation. If they do not, New York sets statutory annual commissions under SCPA 2309: $10.50 per $1,000 on the first $400,000 of principal, $4.50 per $1,000 on the next $600,000, and $3.00 per $1,000 above $1,000,000, plus 1 percent of principal paid out. Banks and trust companies generally charge under their own published fee schedules as permitted by SCPA 2312, with annual minimums that make them impractical for smaller trusts. See our page on using a bank as trustee for that decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need witnesses to sign a trust in New York?

Not if the signature is acknowledged before a notary. EPTL 7-1.17 requires either notarial acknowledgment in the form used to record a deed or two witnesses who also sign. A testamentary trust inside a will requires the two attesting witnesses of EPTL 3-2.1 regardless of notarization.

Can I be my own trustee?

For a revocable trust, yes. You can be the creator, sole trustee, and sole current beneficiary, provided the trust names someone else who takes after you (EPTL 7-1.1). For a Medicaid asset protection trust, you should not serve as trustee, and the trust must bar you from receiving principal, or the assets will be counted as yours.

Does a trust avoid New York estate tax?

A revocable trust does not. Its assets are included in your taxable estate exactly as if you held them in your own name. Irrevocable trusts can remove assets from the estate, but New York adds back certain taxable gifts made within three years of death under Tax Law 954(a)(3), so the timing matters.

Does my revocable trust avoid probate if I never fund it?

No. Under EPTL 7-1.18 the trust holds only what was transferred to it. Assets left in your name pass under your pour-over will through the Surrogate's Court, or, if the personal property is under the small estate limit in SCPA 1301, through a voluntary administration proceeding.

Do I pay transfer tax when I deed my home to my trust?

A deed to yourself as trustee of your own revocable trust is generally exempt from both the State and City transfer taxes as a mere change of identity, but the TP-584 and NYC-RPT must be filed with the exemption claimed. A deed to an irrevocable trust, especially of mortgaged property, needs case-by-case analysis.

Can I put my co-op in a trust?

Usually, but only with the board's consent, and the board may require an occupancy agreement and a guaranty of maintenance. Some buildings prohibit it. Ask the managing agent for the building's trust transfer policy before the trust is drafted.

How long does funding take?

Bank and brokerage re-registrations typically take one to three weeks. A deed can take several weeks to return from the Register or Clerk, longer in some counties. A co-op transfer depends on the board's meeting schedule and often takes one to three months.

Is a New York trust registered or public?

New York has no trust registry and no filing requirement for a lifetime trust. The trust becomes public only to the extent a deed to the trustee is recorded or a court proceeding involves it. See are trusts registered in New York and are trusts public record.

Speak With a New York Trust Attorney

The Law Offices of Albert Goodwin prepares and funds trusts for clients across New York City, Long Island, and Westchester, including deed recording through ACRIS and the County Clerks, co-op board transfers, and Medicaid asset protection trusts. Our office is in Midtown Manhattan. Call 212-233-1233 or email [email protected] to schedule a planning meeting.

This page provides general information about New York law and is not legal advice. Statutes, fee schedules, and tax thresholds change, and the right structure depends on your assets and family. Consult a New York attorney about your situation before signing or funding a trust.