I often meet clients who believe estate planning is a task for retirement. The reality is different. A few years ago, a young couple came to our Madison Avenue office. They were tech entrepreneurs in their early 30s, had just closed a major funding round, and were expecting their first child. They didn’t own a home yet, but their company stock was already worth a significant amount. Their question was simple: “Are we too young to be doing this?”
My answer was direct: you’re not too young. You’re precisely on time. The most prudent planning isn’t triggered by age, but by responsibility. When you have people who depend on you or assets that require stewardship, the time for intentional planning is now.
The Default Plan New York Gives You
If you fail to create a will or trust, the state of New York has already written a plan for you. It is the law of intestacy, and it rarely aligns with a person’s wishes. This “default” plan is outlined in Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) § 4-1.1. It dictates a rigid formula for who inherits your property.
If you are survived by a spouse and children, your spouse receives the first $50,000 and half the remainder of your estate. Your children receive the other half. What if you wanted your spouse to have everything to maintain their lifestyle? What if one child has special needs and requires more support? The statute doesn’t account for your family’s unique circumstances. It is impersonal and absolute.
Without a plan, you are handing control over to the Surrogate’s Court. A judge who has never met you or your family will make decisions about who manages your assets and, in the most critical cases, who raises your children. This is not legacy. This is a lottery.
Life’s Transitions Are Your Cue to Act
Age is the wrong metric. Life events are the right ones. Certain moments create new responsibilities and shift your financial landscape. These are the inflection points where a deliberate estate plan becomes essential.
Marriage
Getting married is more than a personal commitment; it’s a legal and financial partnership. Marriage grants your spouse significant rights, including the right to inherit from your estate. A pre-existing will that names a parent or sibling as your heir can be challenged by your new spouse. A well-drafted plan clarifies your intentions, protects your spouse, and can integrate assets from both sides of the family with purpose.
The Birth or Adoption of a Child
For parents, this is the single most important trigger for estate planning. A will is the only document where you can legally name a guardian for your minor children. If you and your spouse were to pass away without one, a judge in Surrogate’s Court—not you—will decide who raises them. This is a contingency no parent should leave to chance. Beyond guardianship, a trust can be established to hold and manage assets for your children’s benefit, ensuring their financial well-being and education are handled by a trustee you select and trust.
Acquiring Significant Assets
This could be buying your first home in Brooklyn, starting a business, or receiving an inheritance. When you become the steward of significant property, you also take on the duty to plan for its future. A simple will might not be enough to manage a business succession or minimize estate taxes on a valuable property. This is when we start to discuss more sophisticated instruments, like trusts, to ensure a smooth transition of ownership and preserve generational wealth.
Divorce or Remarriage
A divorce revokes any bequests to your former spouse in your will, but it does not automatically remove them as a beneficiary on a retirement account or life insurance policy. We have seen cases where a failure to update a beneficiary designation resulted in a substantial inheritance going to an ex-spouse, contrary to everyone’s wishes. Remarriage presents its own challenges, particularly in blended families. A plan must carefully balance the needs of a new spouse with the inheritance you intend for children from a previous relationship.
Stewardship Is an Ongoing Practice
Your first estate plan is a foundational act of responsibility. But it is not a static document you sign and file away forever. Life changes. A plan created when your children were toddlers will not serve them properly when they are adults. A plan made before you sold your business is obsolete.
We advise our clients to review their estate plan every three to five years, or after any major life event. This isn’t about redoing the work. It’s about making deliberate adjustments to ensure the plan reflects your life as it is, not as it was five years ago. It is an ongoing process of stewardship.
The right time to begin is when you have something to protect and people to protect. For most, that time is much sooner than they think.
A productive first step is to create a simple list of your key assets and, more importantly, the people you wish to provide for. Once you have that clarity, schedule a confidential call with our firm to discuss how a foundational estate plan can put your intentions into a legally binding structure.
