September 2026
Every rule below carries a section number from New York's Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) or Surrogate's Court Procedure Act (SCPA), captured from the New York State Senate's official legislation site on July 16, 2026. New York's trust law is unlike most states', and this guide says plainly where a rule you have read elsewhere does not exist here.
What New York trust law is
New York has not adopted the Uniform Trust Code. Its trust law is the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law, enacted in 1966, with trusts governed principally by Article 7 (lifetime trusts), Article 11 (fiduciary powers and duties), and Article 9 (perpetuities), and with trustee removal and resignation handled by the Surrogate's Court under the SCPA. Because the EPTL predates the uniform code by more than three decades and keeps its own structure, national estate-planning articles are frequently wrong about New York on three points: revocability, execution, and contest deadlines. Each is set out below from the statute.
Who may create a lifetime trust, and for what purposes
EPTL 7-1.14 sets the capacity floor: a natural person must be at least eighteen. EPTL 7-1.4 permits a lifetime trust for any lawful purpose. A trust is not merged or invalid merely because one person is both sole trustee and holder of the present beneficial interest, so long as some other person holds a beneficial interest, vested or contingent, present or future (EPTL 7-1.1). That is the provision that lets a New York settlor serve as trustee of a revocable living trust for his or her own benefit.
Execution: New York prescribes the formalities by statute
EPTL 7-1.17(a) is the rule most out-of-state guides miss. "Every lifetime trust shall be in writing and shall be executed and acknowledged by the person establishing such trust and, unless such person is the sole trustee, by at least one trustee thereof, in the manner required by the laws of this state for the recording of a conveyance of real property or, in lieu thereof, executed in the presence of two witnesses who shall affix their signatures to the trust instrument." Three requirements follow: a writing; the creator's signature, plus at least one trustee's signature unless the creator is the sole trustee; and either notarization to recording standard or two attesting witnesses. An unsigned or unacknowledged, unwitnessed trust is not a New York lifetime trust.
Amendment and revocation follow the same discipline. Under EPTL 7-1.17(b) they must be in writing, executed by the person authorized, and — unless the governing instrument provides otherwise — acknowledged or witnessed in the same manner as the original. Written notice must go to at least one other trustee within a reasonable time if the executing person is not the sole trustee; failure to give notice does not affect validity, and a trustee who acts in reasonable reliance before receiving it is protected.
Funding: recital is not transfer
EPTL 7-1.18 makes the trust valid only "as to any assets therein to the extent the assets have been transferred to the trust," and it says in terms that transfer "is not accomplished by recital of assignment, holding or receipt in the trust instrument." Where the creator is the sole trustee, registrable assets — real estate, stocks, bonds, bank and brokerage accounts — are transferred only by recording the deed or re-registering the asset in the trustee's name. A New York trust with a schedule of assets and no retitling holds nothing. This provision, more than any other, explains why New York living trusts fail.
Irrevocable by default — the opposite of the uniform rule
EPTL 7-1.16: "A lifetime trust shall be irrevocable unless it expressly provides that it is revocable." Every uniform-code state presumes the opposite. A New York trust instrument that is silent on revocability is irrevocable. The same section adds a method most states forbid: a revocable lifetime trust "can be revoked or amended by an express direction in the creator's will which specifically refers to such lifetime trust or a particular provision thereof." Revocation or amendment on the consent of all persons beneficially interested is available under EPTL 7-1.9(a), with an heirs-class rule for trusts created on or after September 1, 1951 (EPTL 7-1.9(b)).
Contesting a New York lifetime trust: no statutory deadline
New York has no statute prescribing a limitations period or procedure specific to contesting the validity of a lifetime trust. There is no 120-day rule, no six-month rule, and no three-year rule in the EPTL or the SCPA; challenges proceed under general civil procedure and its ordinary limitations periods. Any article that assigns New York a fixed trust-contest deadline is importing another state's statute. New York's in terrorem (no-contest) rules in EPTL 3-3.5(b) are written for wills: a no-contest condition is operative regardless of probable cause, subject to listed safe harbors, including a contest to show forgery or revocation on probable cause, an infant's or incompetent's opposition, jurisdictional objections, disclosure of documents, and the SCPA 1404 preliminary examination of witnesses. Whether those rules extend to a no-contest clause in a lifetime trust is not addressed by statute.
The trustee's duties and standard of care
New York's prudent investor act is EPTL 11-2.3, applicable to investments made or held on or after January 1, 1995. The trustee must exercise reasonable care, skill, and caution, considering the trust's purposes, terms, distribution requirements, and other circumstances, and must diversify unless it is prudent not to. Trustee powers are enumerated in EPTL 11-1.1, with limits printed in the statute: leases by a trustee are capped at ten years (three for other fiduciaries) without court approval (EPTL 11-1.1(b)(5)(C)); an option to purchase trust property may run no more than six months (EPTL 11-1.1(b)(7)); and payments for an infant or incompetent to a parent or competent adult are capped at $10,000 (EPTL 11-1.1(b)(19)).
Removing or replacing a trustee
Removal proceeds in the Surrogate's Court under SCPA 711, on grounds including dishonesty, improvidence, substance abuse, want of understanding, wasting or improperly applying assets, willful refusal to obey a court direction, removal from the state without leave, and failure to notify the court of a change of address within 30 days (SCPA 711(6)). A trustee who wishes to step down applies for permission to resign under SCPA 715. Successor appointment follows the instrument or the court's order.
Beneficiary rights and creditor reach
EPTL 7-1.5 makes a beneficiary's right to income inalienable by default, with an exception: an income beneficiary may transfer income in excess of $10,000 a year to listed relatives or fiduciaries (EPTL 7-1.5(b)). A disposition in trust for the creator's own benefit is void as against the creator's creditors (EPTL 7-3.1(a)); retirement-plan assets are carved out, except that additions made within 90 days before a claim is interposed are not exempt (EPTL 7-3.1(b)(4); CPLR 5205(c)(5)). Ninety percent of trust income payments are exempt from enforcement, rising to all of it for described retirement-plan assets (CPLR 5205(d)(1)).
How long a New York trust can last
EPTL 9-1.1 keeps the common-law rule against perpetuities in two parts. The absolute power of alienation may not be suspended beyond lives in being plus not more than 21 years (EPTL 9-1.1(a)(2)), and every estate must vest, if at all, within lives in being plus 21 years and any period of gestation (EPTL 9-1.1(b)). New York has not enacted the uniform 90-year wait-and-see rule, and it offers none of the 360-year or 1,000-year dynasty periods available elsewhere. A "dynasty trust" drafted for another state's law does not work as drafted in New York.
Certification of trust: no New York statute
New York has no statutory certification of trust. The uniform code's section 1013 has no analog in the EPTL, and the section number that would carry it does not exist. New York trustees prove a trust to banks and title companies by presenting the instrument, excerpts, or an affidavit, as the institution requires; there is no statutory form and no statutory protection for a third party who relies on one.
What assets should not be placed in a New York trust, and taxes
The EPTL publishes no list of excluded assets. The practical answer is the same as elsewhere — retirement accounts pass by beneficiary designation; small accounts and vehicles are often left out — with one New York emphasis: whatever goes in must actually be retitled under EPTL 7-1.18, or it is not in. New York imposes a state estate tax on estates above the New York exclusion amount, with a "cliff" under which an estate that exceeds the threshold by more than a small margin loses the benefit of the exclusion entirely; New York has no inheritance tax. The "7-year rule" in many search results is a United Kingdom inheritance-tax concept and is not New York law.
Types of trusts used in New York estate plans
A revocable living trust must say it is revocable (EPTL 7-1.16), be executed under EPTL 7-1.17, and be funded under EPTL 7-1.18; done that way, the trust document names a successor trustee and the trust's assets pass at death without a Surrogate's Court probate proceeding. Irrevocable trusts are the default and are used for creditor, Medicaid, and tax positioning, subject to EPTL 7-3.1. Testamentary trusts are created by will. Supplemental needs trusts preserve public benefits. Whatever the type, the execution and funding rules apply to all of them.
Trust administration after a death
The successor trustee takes office under the instrument, confirms that assets were actually transferred under EPTL 7-1.18, keeps beneficiaries informed, invests under EPTL 11-2.3, and distributes according to the terms of the trust. Because there is no statutory contest deadline and no certification statute, New York trustees rely on careful records and, where a beneficiary disputes administration, on the Surrogate's Court's accounting and removal jurisdiction under the SCPA.
Frequently asked questions
Does a New York trust need to be notarized? It must be acknowledged to recording standard or signed before two witnesses (EPTL 7-1.17(a)). One or the other, and the trustee signs too unless the creator is sole trustee.
Is a New York trust revocable if it does not say? No. Silence means irrevocable (EPTL 7-1.16).
Can a will revoke a New York lifetime trust? Yes, by express direction that specifically refers to the trust (EPTL 7-1.16).
How long do I have to contest a New York trust? There is no trust-specific statutory deadline; general limitations periods apply.
Where New York differs from the Uniform Trust Code
- Trusts are irrevocable unless expressly revocable (EPTL 7-1.16); the uniform rule is the reverse.
- Execution formalities are statutory: writing, acknowledgment or two witnesses, trustee's signature (EPTL 7-1.17); the uniform code prescribes none.
- Recital does not fund; retitling does (EPTL 7-1.18).
- No trust-contest limitations statute; no certification-of-trust statute.
- Common-law perpetuities period of lives in being plus 21 years (EPTL 9-1.1); no 90-year or longer period.
Other states in this series
- California trust law, verified
- Florida trust law, verified
- Georgia trust law, verified
- South Carolina trust law, verified
- Texas trust law, verified
Verified sources
All sections were read from nysenate.gov, the New York State Senate's official legislation publication, on July 16, 2026 (chapter index most recent revision December 19, 2025); EPTL 9-1.1 was captured from the 2025 New York Laws mirror because the official section page returned an empty response on that date, and is graded accordingly. Readers who need the verbatim text with capture date and source line for any section can request the Trust Statute Service research package for New York.
This guide states the statute. It is not legal advice for any particular trust, and it does not replace counsel where a dispute, the estate-tax cliff, Medicaid planning, or an unusual asset is involved.