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Start the free role checkKey New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law provisions
Personal property exempt from application to the satisfaction of money judgments
CPLR 5205 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Real property exempt from application to the satisfaction of money judgments
CPLR 5206 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Transfer or obligation voidable as to present or future creditor
Debt. & Cred. Law §273 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Transfer or obligation voidable as to present creditor
Debt. & Cred. Law §274 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Power to distribute principal or allocate income; restriction on exercise
EPTL 10-10.1 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Exercise of a power of appointment; effect when more extensive or less extensive than authorized; trustee's authority to invade principal in trust
EPTL 10-6.6 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Fiduciaries' powers
EPTL 11-1.1 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Property held as fiduciary to be kept separate
EPTL 11-1.6 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Limitations on powers and immunities of executors and testamentary trustees
EPTL 11-1.7 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Prudent investor act
EPTL 11-2.3 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Fiduciary duties; general principles
EPTL 11-A-1.3 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Right of election by surviving spouse
EPTL 5-1.1-A ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
When trust interest inalienable; exception
EPTL 7-1.5 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Act of trustee in contravention of trust
EPTL 7-2.4 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Disposition in trust for creator void as against creditors
EPTL 7-3.1 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Excess income from trust property subject to creditors' claims
EPTL 7-3.4 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Data security protections
Gen. Bus. Law §899-bb ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Exemption of proceeds and avails of certain insurance and annuity contracts
Ins. Law §3212 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Compulsory account and related relief on a court's own initiative or on petition; who may petition
SCPA 2205 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Voluntary account; who may petition
SCPA 2208 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
Voluntary account; process
SCPA 2210 ↗Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.
New York trustee deadlines: what the statutes provide
Reviewed against the New York Statutes on 2026-10-06. General information, not legal advice; the official text controls.
| When | Timing | What the statute provides | To whom | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You learn you are named successor trustee | No fixed day-count. New York has no statute on how the trustee of a lifetime trust accepts. | A successor or substitute fiduciary succeeds to the powers, duties and discretion of the original one unless the instrument says otherwise; a court appoints a trustee only when no one able to act is named, and not in place of a named successor who is not disqualified. | — | EPTL 11-1.1(b)(12); SCPA 1502 ↗ |
| You begin to serve | At once and throughout; no day-count. | Every fiduciary may take possession of the trust property, collect its rents and manage it, and sell, lease or mortgage it, unless the instrument or an order limits the power. | — | EPTL 11-1.1(b)(5) ↗ |
| You begin to serve | At once and throughout; no day-count. | Keep property held as fiduciary separate from your own, and conduct every transaction affecting it in your name as fiduciary. | — | EPTL 11-1.6 ↗ |
| The fiduciary relationship begins | Within a reasonable time; the section gives no day-count. | Determine whether to retain or dispose of the trust's initial assets, as part of investing and managing the portfolio as a prudent investor would. | — | EPTL 11-2.3(b)(3)(D) ↗ |
| You begin to serve | Throughout; a standard of conduct, judged by the facts at the time of each decision. | Invest and manage the trust property as a prudent investor would for the entire portfolio, and diversify unless you reasonably determine that not diversifying serves the beneficiaries; delegate only with care in selecting the delegee, setting the scope and reviewing the work. | — | EPTL 11-2.3 ↗ |
| A beneficiary asks you in writing for information about the trust's assets or affairs | No day-count; a request left unanswered may be taken to the Surrogate's Court. | A proceeding may require a fiduciary to supply information concerning the assets or affairs of an estate or trust relevant to the petitioner's interest when the fiduciary has failed after a written request. | — | SCPA 2102(1) ↗ |
| Each trust year, where you retain annual commissions | A statement of the principal assets on hand as of a date no more than 30 days before the end of the trust year you select, and at least annually a statement of receipts. | Annual commissions may be retained only if the trustee furnishes the statements — the principal assets on hand, and all receipts of income and principal, including the commissions retained and how they were computed. | Each beneficiary currently receiving income, and any other beneficiary interested in the income and any person interested in the principal who demands them; an income beneficiary may excuse them in writing. | SCPA 2309(4) ↗ |
| A person who is not the sole trustee executes an authorized amendment or revocation of a lifetime trust | Written notice to at least one other trustee within a reasonable time; the amendment takes effect when executed either way. | The amendment or revocation is written, executed and, unless the instrument provides otherwise, acknowledged or witnessed; a trustee is not liable for acting reasonably on the existing instrument before actually receiving notice. | — | EPTL 7-1.17(b) ↗ |
| A trustee exercises the authority to appoint principal to a new trust | Effective 30 days after service unless the persons entitled consent in writing to an earlier date; the original filed within 20 days of the effective date, unless the trust is a lifetime trust never before the Surrogate's Court. | The exercise is made by a signed, dated and acknowledged instrument, delivered with copies of both trusts by registered or certified mail or personal delivery; a person interested may object in writing before the effective date, and silence is not consent. | The creator, if living; anyone who can remove or replace the trustee; and the persons interested in both trusts. | EPTL 10-6.6(j) ↗ |
| Administering the trust becomes uneconomical | No day-count; by application to the Surrogate's Court. | A trustee or beneficiary may ask the court to terminate the trust; the court may do so if continuation is economically impracticable, the terms do not prohibit early termination, and termination would not defeat the trust's purpose and serves the beneficiaries. New York has no trustee-alone small-trust termination. | — | EPTL 7-1.19 ↗ |
| You wish to resign | No notice route; by the instrument's own provision or by court application. | The Supreme Court may accept a trustee's resignation and discharge the trustee on terms it deems proper; in the Surrogate's Court a fiduciary petitions to resign and to settle the account. | — | EPTL 7-2.6(a)(1); SCPA 715 ↗ |
| A custodian receives your request with the information the digital-assets law requires | Sixty days for the custodian to comply; then an application to the court. | The custodian discloses the digital assets or terminates the account as the request asks; if it does not, the fiduciary may apply to the court for an order directing compliance. | — | EPTL 13-A-4.2 ↗ |
| The death of a New York resident whose federal gross estate, plus includible gifts, exceeds the basic exclusion amount (a nonresident with New York real or tangible property: the same measure) | Nine months after the date of death; the tax is paid by the same date. | The executor files the New York estate tax return; where no executor is appointed, qualified and acting, the estate tax article treats as the executor any person in actual or constructive possession of the decedent's property (Tax Law §951-a). The credit is reduced above the basic exclusion and is not allowed above 105% of it. | The Department of Taxation and Finance. | Tax Law §§971, 972, 974 ↗ |
| Letters are first issued in the estate | Seven months. | A claim not presented within seven months from the first letters leaves the estate fiduciary not chargeable for assets paid in good faith before it was presented; it does not bar the claim. Claims are in writing, by personal delivery or certified mail. | — | SCPA 1802, 1803 ↗Related estate |
| A claim is presented to the estate fiduciary | Ninety days; a claim not allowed by then is deemed rejected. | The fiduciary gives the claimant prompt written notice of the claim's allowance or rejection, with reasons for a rejection. | — | SCPA 1806 ↗Related estate |
| Letters are issued; the death | Within six months from the issue of letters, and no later than two years after the death (extensions and relief as the section provides). | A surviving spouse's election of the greater of $50,000 or one-third of the net estate, counting testamentary substitutes — among them property the decedent could revoke, in trust or otherwise. | — | EPTL 5-1.1-A(d) ↗Related estate |
| The transferor's death, where the probate estate cannot pay allowed claims or allowances | A proceeding to reach the property is commenced no later than eighteen months after the death. | The estate may enforce liability for allowed claims and statutory allowances against property that passed by a transfer on death deed, apportioned among such properties by their net values at the death. | — | Real Prop. Law §424(14) ↗Related estate |
| The trust becomes irrevocable | Before the trust's accounts are retitled or income is reported. | Obtain an employer identification number for the trust, which reports its own income once the creator has died. | — | IRS Form SS-4 ↗Federal |
| The death, where the gross estate exceeds the federal filing threshold | Nine months after the date of death (an extension is available on request). | File the federal estate tax return when the gross estate exceeds the filing threshold, or to elect portability for a surviving spouse. New York's own return follows its own threshold. | — | IRS Form 706 ↗Federal |
| The trust's tax year ends | The 15th day of the fourth month after year-end (April 15 for a calendar-year trust). | File the trust's federal income tax return and issue a Schedule K-1 to each beneficiary who received distributable income; New York's fiduciary return (Form IT-205) follows its own instructions. | — | IRS Form 1041 ↗Federal |
Frequently asked questions
- What are a New York trustee's main duties?
- Generally, a New York trustee administers the trust under its terms; invests and manages the property as a prudent investor would for the entire portfolio (EPTL 11-2.3); keeps trust property separate and transacts in the trustee's name (EPTL 11-1.6); allocates between principal and income impartially (EPTL 11-A-1.3); and owes the undivided loyalty New York's courts enforce — an act in contravention of an expressed trust is void (EPTL 7-2.4).
- Does a New York trustee have to notify the beneficiaries?
- New York sets no statutory notice when a trust becomes irrevocable or a trustee begins to serve. A beneficiary may ask in writing for information about the trust's assets or affairs, and a proceeding may require it to be supplied (SCPA 2102(1)); a trustee who retains annual commissions furnishes the annual statements of SCPA 2309(4).
- When should a New York trustee involve an attorney?
- No statute requires one for a trust administration, and the reasonable counsel fees a fiduciary necessarily incurs are an expense of administration (EPTL 11-1.1(b)(22)). Many trustees consult a licensed New York attorney of their choosing before a discretionary distribution to themselves (EPTL 10-10.1), an appointment in further trust (EPTL 10-6.6), a sale to a family member, or a judicial settlement (SCPA 2208).
General information about New York law, not legal advice.