The leaves are turning, and the planning calendar is turning with them. Fall is when good intentions either become completed gifts and signed documents — or slide into next year. This issue of The Schwartsman Law Group Newsletter walks through the moves worth making before December 31, with a special look at an asset class most wills still ignore: your digital life.
Key takeaways
- Annual gifts must be completed — check cleared, transfer recorded — by December 31 to count for this year.
- The holidays are the one time everyone is in the same room; use twenty minutes of it for a family meeting.
- Passwords, crypto, photos, and online accounts need a plan of their own.
- Confirm this year's gift and estate figures on our numbers page before you write any checks.
Year-end gifting: the deadline is real
Each calendar year you may give a certain amount per recipient without filing a gift tax return, and that allowance does not roll over — use it by December 31 or lose it. The catch people miss is that a gift counts only when it is complete: a check must clear, a stock transfer must settle, a deed must be delivered (and should be recorded). A check handed over at Christmas dinner but deposited in January is next year's gift. Gifting can also play a role in managing exposure to New York's estate tax cliff, but the order and timing matter, so it belongs inside a broader estate and tax plan rather than a last-minute scramble.
The holiday family meeting
Thanksgiving and the December holidays gather the exact people your estate plan is about. You do not need a formal agenda — just twenty minutes to tell your family who your executor is, where documents are kept, and who to call. Families that talk are less likely to end up disputing an estate in Surrogate's Court. If your children are the ones hosting, they can gently ask parents the same questions. Either direction, the goal is the same: no surprises later.
Your digital assets need a plan too
Think about what lives only behind your passwords: photos, email, banking apps, loyalty points, cryptocurrency, a small online business. New York's digital assets law (EPTL Article 13-A) lets a fiduciary obtain a list of your online accounts, but the content of emails and messages is released only if you consented in an online tool, will, trust, or power of attorney — older documents are usually silent. This fall, inventory your accounts, decide who should have access, and store credentials in a password manager with an emergency-access feature. Crypto deserves special care: without the keys, it is simply gone, no matter what your will says. We now build digital-asset clauses into the plans we draft.
Check the current numbers
The annual gift allowance, the federal exemption, and New York's estate tax exclusion all adjust over time, so we deliberately quote none of them here. Before making year-end gifts, look up the current figures on the firm's always-current New York numbers page. Two minutes there prevents a December mistake that cannot be undone in January.
How Schwartsman Law Group can help
Founding attorney Marianna Schwartsman and our team help New York families complete year-end gifts correctly, run productive family meetings, and modernize documents for the digital age. We work in English, Spanish, and Russian from offices in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Manhasset. This letter is general information, not legal advice — for a plan tailored to you, call +1 212 518 3868, email ms@schwartsmanlaw.com, or request a free consultation and let us get it done right before the year closes.