Midtown Manhattan practice on Lexington Avenue guiding executors and beneficiaries through New York probate and trust administration in the five borough Surrogate's Courts: locating and valuing assets, resolving creditor claims in the statutory priority order, and preparing the accounting the court requires before a final distribution. Also drafts wills, trusts, asset-protection plans, and Medicaid plans. Run by Gabriel Katzner, who passed the CPA exam before law school; the practice also keeps a California office in Encinitas.

Solo PracticeSince 2009Serves 5 countiesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateElder LawAsset ProtectionMedicaid Planning

Rego Park firm guiding Queens executors through probate, with a second office downtown at 225 Broadway. Takes newly appointed executors from filing through distribution, handles intestate administration where survivors must be identified as heirs under state law, and advises trustees already named under an existing trust. The firm declines work outside wills, trusts, estates, probate and elder law and refers it out; Russian is spoken.

Serves 3 countiesFree consultationEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateElder LawTax Planning+5

Staten Island firm on South Avenue, with a by-appointment Manhattan office, handling estate administration where there is a will and administration where there is not, plus trust administration and trustee and fiduciary guidance. Also drafts wills, pour-over wills, and revocable, irrevocable, and asset-protection trusts, and files community and nursing-home Medicaid applications.

Serves 6 countiesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateElder LawTax Planning+2

Garden City firm on Old Country Road serving Nassau, Suffolk, and the New York City boroughs. Works alongside executors and trustees to locate, gather and liquidate assets, notify creditors and review claims within the seven-month Letters Testamentary window, file the decedent's final income and estate tax returns, prepare estate accountings and releases, and distribute to beneficiaries. Three attorneys, led by a Certified Elder Law Attorney, also handling Medicaid planning and applications, special-needs planning, and asset protection.

Since 1991Serves 7 countiesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateElder LawSpecial Needs Planning+2

East Setauket (Suffolk County) firm with three more Long Island and Manhattan offices, practicing in trusts and estates, elder law and real estate. Walks executors and administrators through a Surrogate's Court file: the petition to appoint, waivers and consents from distributees under EPTL 4-1.1, Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, the estate account and asset inventory, creditor payment, estate taxes, releases and the final accounting. Also handles objections to a will, guardianship, and Medicaid and long-term-care planning.

Since 1995Serves 2 countiesEstate PlanningProbateElder LawGuardianshipSpecial Needs Planning+2

Midtown Manhattan trusts-and-estates practice on Madison Avenue, serving families and fiduciaries throughout the tri-state area and in Florida. Handles probate and estate administration — estate inventory and appraisal, the petition to Surrogate's Court, letters testamentary, paying debts and claims against the estate, and phased distribution to heirs — plus revocable and irrevocable trusts and private fiduciary services. Michael J. Greenberg is admitted in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida, and also handles business succession and generation-skipping transfer-tax planning.

Solo PracticeFree consultationEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateElder LawSpecial Needs PlanningAsset Protection