Asset Protection Attorneys in Westchester County, New York
Asset protection planning considers how a claim against you or your business could affect your home, savings, and other property. For Westchester families, the plan often needs to account for substantial home equity, a professional practice or business, investment property, and assets held across state lines.
Milvidskiy Law Group P.C. helps Westchester residents build asset protection plans under New York law from our office in Tarrytown. We review the applicable exemptions, ownership arrangements, insurance, and trusts, including local requirements for forming entities and recording property transfers. We provide asset protection planning throughout New York.
Key Takeaways:
- Westchester is in New York’s highest homestead tier, but the protected equity is still a small fraction of the value of most homes in the county, so the residence usually needs more than the exemption.
- With limited exceptions such as retirement accounts, New York does not let you shelter assets in a trust for your own benefit. Protection comes from insurance, exempt assets, entities, tenancy by the entirety, and trusts created for other family members.
- Deeds for Westchester property are recorded with the Westchester County Clerk in White Plains, and every retitling step has transfer tax, mortgage, and insurance consequences that should be checked before signing.
Your Westchester home
For many Westchester families, the home represents a substantial part of their assets. New York’s homestead exemption shields equity in a principal residence, and Westchester sits in the top tier along with Rockland, Putnam, Nassau, Suffolk, and the five boroughs. For 2026 the statute protects $150,000 of equity above mortgages and liens. That figure is set by the Legislature and can change, and equity above the exemption may remain exposed to a judgment creditor.
Married couples have a second layer. A deed to spouses creates a tenancy by the entirety under New York law unless it says otherwise, which means a creditor of one spouse generally cannot force a sale while both are alive and married. This protection depends on the marital ownership arrangement and applies to debts of one spouse. We review the deed and any personal guarantees when assessing the home’s exposure.
A personal umbrella policy is the third layer, and an important one. We ask clients to bring their homeowners, auto, and umbrella declarations to the first meeting.
Your practice or business
Physicians in the county’s hospitals and private practices, along with dentists, architects, contractors, and owners of restaurants and shops across the county, need to account for liabilities arising from their work. A New York limited liability company or professional entity separates that liability from the household. New York law limits a judgment creditor of an LLC member to a charging order against the member’s interest, without any right to seize the company’s property.
Forming an LLC also involves county-specific publication requirements. Under current law, New York requires a new LLC to publish notice of its formation for six consecutive weeks in two newspapers designated by the county clerk of the county where the LLC’s office is located, and to file a certificate of publication with the Department of State within 120 days after the articles of organization take effect. For a Westchester LLC, that means newspapers designated by the Westchester County Clerk. Publication costs vary by county, and some owners list an office elsewhere for that reason; that choice has consequences and should be made deliberately. If the deadline is missed, the LLC’s authority to do business is suspended until the filing is made.
Maintaining the entity’s separate legal identity is essential. This includes separate bank accounts, leases and contracts signed in the company’s name, and appropriate business liability insurance.
Your savings and insurance
New York exempts qualified retirement plans, IRAs, and similar accounts from most judgment creditors and treats them as spendthrift trusts even though you funded them. The exemption does not cover contributions made within 90 days before a claim or contributions that are voidable transfers, and it yields to child support, spousal support, and qualified domestic relations orders. Life insurance proceeds payable to a third-party beneficiary are protected from the policy owner’s creditors under New York’s Insurance Law, and annuity benefits payable to the person who funded the annuity are not subject to execution, subject to a court’s power to order installment payments to a judgment creditor. For a Westchester professional, maximizing retirement contributions and structuring insurance correctly is often an important asset protection step.
Trusts Under New York Law
Clients often arrive having read about asset protection trusts in Nevada or Delaware. New York’s Estates, Powers and Trusts Law makes a trust for the use of the person who created it void as against that person’s creditors, and a New York court is not required to apply another state’s statute to a New York resident. We do not build plans around self-settled trusts.
What New York does protect is a trust that someone else created for you. Property in a trust created or funded by a third party is generally exempt from the beneficiary’s judgment creditors, and a beneficiary cannot assign the right to trust income unless the instrument permits it. Leaving an inheritance in a properly drafted discretionary trust generally protects it from a child’s creditors and divorce in a way an outright gift does not. We build these provisions into estate plans and dynasty trusts, and we can create an irrevocable trust for your children or grandchildren during your lifetime when transferring ownership is consistent with your goals.
An irrevocable Medicaid asset protection trust is a related but different tool aimed at nursing home costs rather than lawsuits. We assess its suitability as part of Medicaid planning for Westchester residents.
Timing and Challenges to Asset Transfers
New York’s Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, in Article 10 of the Debtor and Creditor Law, lets a creditor undo a transfer made with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud, or made without reasonably equivalent value while the transferor was insolvent or becoming insolvent. The creditor generally has four years from the transfer, or one year from when the transfer was or reasonably could have been discovered if that is later. A claim of this kind against a Westchester resident is typically brought in Supreme Court, Westchester County, in White Plains. Planning before a claim arises, with documentation of fair value and solvency, helps address this risk.
Recording and the local process
Retitling Westchester real estate, whether into a tenancy by the entirety, an LLC, or a trust, means recording a deed with the Westchester County Clerk in White Plains. The Clerk records deeds and mortgages electronically and requires recording cover pages and New York State transfer tax forms to be generated through its Property Records Electronic Portal. A transfer into an LLC can carry New York State transfer tax and, as of 2026, a municipal transfer tax in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, and Peekskill as well; a transfer into a revocable trust raises different tax questions but still requires lender, insurer, and title review. We handle the deed, the tax returns, and the coordination to help avoid an unintended cost from a protective step.
Families with ties to New Jersey and Connecticut
Westchester households often own a shore house in New Jersey, have children in Connecticut, or run a business across the state line. Exemptions, trust law, and entity rules differ in each state. Our attorneys practice in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and can coordinate planning across all three states.
Meet with us in Tarrytown
We meet with clients at our Tarrytown office in Westchester County, by video conference, and by phone. Request a consultation to discuss your situation.
This page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws change and figures are adjusted periodically. For advice about your situation, consult a qualified attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which homestead exemption tier applies to a Westchester County home?
Westchester is in New York’s highest tier, together with Rockland, Putnam, Nassau, Suffolk, and the five New York City counties. For 2026 the statute protects $150,000 of equity above mortgages and liens in a principal residence. Given Westchester home values, that usually covers only a small part of the equity, so we rarely rely on the exemption alone.
Where are deeds for Westchester property recorded?
With the Westchester County Clerk in White Plains. The Clerk accepts land records electronically and requires cover pages and New York State transfer tax forms to be generated through its Property Records Electronic Portal. We prepare and record deeds for retitling as part of an asset protection plan.
Does forming an LLC in Westchester cost more than in other counties?
The state filing is the same everywhere, but New York’s publication requirement uses newspapers designated by the county clerk where the LLC lists its office, and publication rates differ from county to county. We will tell you what the Westchester publication is expected to cost and discuss whether listing an office elsewhere makes sense for your situation.
I am a physician practicing in Westchester. What should my plan include?
Adequate malpractice coverage first, then a practice entity that separates practice liability from personal assets, full use of retirement plans that New York exempts from creditors, correct titling of the home with your spouse, and trust provisions in your estate plan that protect your children’s inheritance. These measures should be coordinated around the risks of your practice and your family’s financial needs.
Are there local transfer taxes when I move a Westchester property into an LLC?
New York State transfer tax may apply depending on the consideration and any mortgage on the property, and, as of 2026, the cities of Yonkers, Mount Vernon, and Peekskill impose their own municipal transfer taxes on top of the state tax. We calculate the state and any municipal exposure for your property before a deed is signed.
Can we protect a second home in the Hudson Valley or Connecticut as well as our Westchester house?
Yes, but the tools differ. The New York homestead exemption covers only your principal residence, so a second home relies on titling, entities, and insurance. Property in Connecticut is governed by Connecticut law. We coordinate the plan across states.
My parents want to leave me their Westchester house. How can it be protected from my creditors?
Have them leave it in a properly drafted trust rather than outright. New York generally protects property held in a trust created by someone other than the beneficiary from the beneficiary’s creditors, and a beneficiary cannot assign trust income unless the trust allows it. This is a change to your parents’ estate plan, and we can coordinate with them or their counsel.
What court hears a fraudulent transfer claim against a Westchester resident?
A New York voidable transaction claim is typically brought in Supreme Court, Westchester County, in White Plains, although claims can also arise in federal or bankruptcy court. The creditor generally has four years from the transfer, or one year from discovery if later. Planning done before any claim exists, with documented fair value, is the way to reduce the risk of that kind of claim.
