Revocable Living Trusts in New York for Single People and Unmarried Partners
A revocable living trust is one of the most useful tools available to single New Yorkers and unmarried partners. You create it during your lifetime under EPTL Article 7, transfer assets into it, and keep full control as trustee. Because the trust, not you personally, owns those assets at your death, they pass to your beneficiaries without going through Surrogate’s Court. For someone whose chosen heirs are a partner or friends rather than blood relatives, that privacy and control can be decisive.
How a Revocable Trust Works
You serve as your own trustee while you are alive and well, managing the assets exactly as before. You name a successor trustee, often the partner or friend you trust most, to take over if you become incapacitated or die. On your death, the successor trustee distributes the assets according to your instructions, privately and without a court proceeding. You can amend or revoke the trust at any time as long as you have capacity.
What It Does and Does Not Do
A revocable trust avoids probate and provides a smooth plan for incapacity, but it is important to be clear about its limits. Because you keep full control, the assets remain part of your taxable estate. A revocable trust does not save New York estate tax, and it does not protect assets from creditors or qualify you for Medicaid. Those goals require an irrevocable trust, which is a different instrument with very different trade-offs, including the loss of control and a five-year look-back period for Medicaid eligibility.
Why It Fits Single and Unmarried Households
Probate in New York is a public process, and relatives who would have inherited under intestacy are entitled to notice. For an unmarried partner inheriting a shared apartment, that can mean handing estranged relatives a front-row seat and an opening to object. A funded revocable trust keeps the transfer private and out of their reach. It also names someone to manage your affairs immediately if you are hospitalized, without anyone petitioning the court for a guardian.
Funding the Trust Is Essential
A trust controls only the assets actually retitled into it. Many people sign a beautiful trust document and never transfer their co-op shares, bank accounts, or brokerage holdings into it, leaving the trust empty and the assets in probate after all. Funding is the step that makes the trust work, and it deserves the same care as drafting.
Special Needs Beneficiaries
If you want to provide for a beneficiary who receives needs-based government benefits, a supplemental needs trust under EPTL 7-1.12 can hold assets for their benefit without disqualifying them. This can be built into your overall plan.
Consult a New York Attorney
This page is general information, not legal advice. Whether a revocable trust is right for you depends on your assets and goals. Speak with a licensed New York estate planning attorney before creating or funding a trust.