Estate Planning: The Conversation Families Avoid Until It's Too Late
Nobody is eager to plan for their own absence. We understand — genuinely. But here is what years of probate practice have taught this firm, sitting with families on the other side of the moment: the estates that go smoothly are the ones somebody planned, and the plans are acts of love wearing legal paperwork.
An estate plan is not a document about death. It's a letter to the people you love, telling them exactly what to do on the hardest day they'll have — so they can grieve instead of guess.
What a Complete Plan Includes
- A will. Who receives what, who serves as executor, who cares for minor children. Without one, New York's default formula decides — and the state's family tree may not match yours. A valid New York will requires precise formalities; this is one document that should never be improvised from a template.
- Powers of attorney. Someone you trust, authorized to handle finances if you cannot. Without it, your family may need a court proceeding just to pay your bills.
- Health care proxy and living will. Your medical decisions, in the hands you choose, with your wishes in writing — so nobody has to guess at the bedside.
- Beneficiary designation review. Life insurance, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death accounts pass outside your will — the designation on file wins, even when it's an ex-spouse from 1998. Reviewing these is the cheapest, highest-impact estate planning that exists, and it's built into every plan we prepare. (Why titling matters this much.)
- Trusts, where they earn their keep. Revocable living trusts to keep property out of probate; trusts for minor children or family members who need structure; planning around a family business or property in two countries. We recommend trusts when your facts justify them — not as a default upsell. Plenty of New York families are well served by a will and clean beneficiary designations, and we'll tell you if you're one of them.
- Business succession. For founders: what happens to the company, the license, the lease, and the payroll if something happens to you. Coordinated with our business practice, because a will that ignores your LLC's operating agreement is a contradiction waiting to be discovered.
Planning Across Borders
This is where our practice is genuinely unusual. A large share of the families we serve hold lives in two countries: property in New York and a house in the old country, children on two continents, a green card here and inheritance rights there, parents abroad who will someday leave assets across an ocean.
Cross-border estates raise questions most planning firms rarely see: how two legal systems treat the same assets, what non-citizen spouses need to know about estate taxes, whether you need coordinated wills in two countries, and how a foreign inheritance lands in a U.S. life.
Because this firm practices immigration law alongside estate planning — and because our founder's own family spans New York and Ireland — these are not exotic questions here. They are Tuesday's questions, and we plan for them deliberately.
Our Estate Planning Services
Planners Who Also Stand in Probate Court
- We see how plans actually perform. Our attorneys do — Douglas Mace, our Managing Attorney, leads both the estate planning and probate practices, after eight years inside the New York court system as a Kings County law clerk. Every will we draft is written by people who regularly stand in Surrogate's Court and see exactly which documents make an estate easy and which make it painful. That feedback loop is the quiet advantage of this firm's plans.
- Cross-border by biography, not brochure. Danny Grace — born in Limerick, University of Limerick School of Law, New York bar 2011, firm founded 2012, Super Lawyers 2022–2026 — has lived the two-country life this practice plans for. His own family's story crosses the Atlantic; his clients' plans are built by someone who understands, personally, what it means for a legacy to span borders.
- Three attorneys, one standard. Associate Yuting Li — dual-admitted in Illinois and New York — rounds out a planning team that reflects the international families it serves, working from 225 Broadway in Lower Manhattan.
The Quiet Advantage Here
Drafted by Probate Lawyers
Written by attorneys who watch these documents perform in Surrogate's Court.
Beneficiary Review Included
The designation on file wins, even when it names an ex-spouse from 1998.
Trusts Only When Earned
Genuinely useful, and genuinely oversold. You'll get the honest version.
Cross-Border by Biography
Non-citizen spouses, foreign assets, and coordinated wills are Tuesday's questions inside this office.
Business Succession Included
What happens to the company, the license, the lease, and the payroll if something happens to you.
Why New York Families Plan With Us
An Act of Love
Not a document about death. Instructions for the people you love, to read on the hardest day they'll have.
Never a Template
A valid New York will requires precise formalities. This is one document never to improvise from a form.
Two Countries, One Plan
Property here and a house in the old country, coordinated so both documents pull together.
Honest About Scope
Plenty of New York families are well served by a simple will and clean beneficiary designations.
An estate planning practice that sees how the plans perform.
At Danny Grace PLLC, the attorneys who draft your documents also stand in Surrogate's Court. Every will we prepare is written by people who see which plans make an estate easy and which make it painful — a feedback loop most planning firms simply do not have.
Our Mission
To build every estate plan with the same care we would want for our own family.
Our Standard
Precise documents, plain explanations, and plans that still work many years later.
Helping New York Families Leave the People They Love a Clear, Kind Roadmap
A Conversation First
One page of what you own and who you trust is plenty to start.
Honest Recommendations
We recommend trusts when your facts justify them, not by default.
Plans That Hold
Reviewed against life events and the law, because both drift over the years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really need a will if I don't have much?
If you have children, anyone you love, or anything you own solo — yes. A will names guardians, prevents the state's default formula from choosing your heirs, and spares your family months of avoidable process. Modest estates arguably need the clarity most.
What happens if I die without a will in New York?
State law distributes your solo-owned assets by a fixed formula — spouse and children first, then outward through the family tree — and a court chooses who administers it. The formula doesn't know your intentions, your unmarried partner, or your stepchildren.
Will my family have to go through probate?
If you own assets solely in your name, generally yes — though a good plan can shrink or eliminate probate through joint titling, beneficiary designations, and trusts. We design for whichever outcome fits your family. (What probate involves.)
Do I need a trust, or is that oversold?
Both things are true in this industry. Trusts genuinely help with probate avoidance, minor children, privacy, and two-country assets. They're also oversold to people who don't need them. We'll give you the honest version for your facts.
I'm not a U.S. citizen. Does that change my estate plan?
It can, meaningfully — particularly estate tax treatment for non-citizen spouses and the handling of foreign assets. This is a core specialty of ours, not a footnote. Bring your whole two-country picture to the conversation.
We own property in another country. Do we need two wills?
Often, yes — coordinated so they don't accidentally revoke each other. We structure the New York plan and coordinate with counsel abroad so both documents pull in the same direction.
How often should I update my plan?
At every major life event — marriage, divorce, births, deaths, a business, a property, a move — and roughly every three to five years regardless, because law and life both drift. Beneficiary designations deserve the same schedule.
Who should I choose as executor?
Someone organized, communicative, and willing — geography matters less than reliability. Read what the job actually involves before choosing, and always name an alternate.
What do estate planning documents cost?
We work flat-fee, quoted before we begin — individual and couple packages for the core documents, with trusts and cross-border coordination priced by scope. Clarity about cost is part of the reassurance we're selling.
What should I bring to a first meeting?
A simple list: what you own and roughly what it's worth, how it's titled, who you'd trust with decisions, and who you want to provide for. One page is plenty. The plan starts as a conversation, not a form.
How Can We Help?
