Your state’s pack. New issues arrive periodically on Mondays. Bookmark it. I built this for the New York T&E solo who knows the EPTL and SCPA cold but still loses an afternoon a week tracking the region-indexed homestead numbers, the New York Medicaid / Managed Long Term Care (DOH) eligibility posture, whether the latest New York bar ethics opinion changes how you scope an engagement, or whether a recent Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York decision just moved the law on capacity, undue influence, or a trustee’s duties. What’s below is what mattered in New York lately — the week’s developments and the recent rulings from the bench.
For licensed attorneys. This pack is general legal information and professional commentary for practicing attorneys — it is not legal advice, does not apply to any specific matter, and creates no attorney-client relationship. Verify every authority against the cited primary source before relying on it with a client. Published by Mike Moss, a Utah-admitted attorney, as an AI-enablement information product; it is not an offer of legal services and is not a representation that the author is admitted to practice in your jurisdiction.
Three developments from the last seven days that I think actually matter to a New York T&E solo. Each one has a read that lands on your practice specifically — and each one comes with the citation so you can verify the detail yourself before you use it with a client.
Per the NY State Unified Court System, the Interim Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence took effect October 2025 and governs all judges and nonjudicial staff: approved tools only, mandatory training, and strict confidentiality. Note the intel’s distinction — this UCS policy is a separate instrument from the NYSBA Task Force on AI report (approved by the House of Delegates April 6, 2024); do not conflate the two.
The UCS policy binds the court’s own personnel rather than the practicing bar, but for a New York T&E solo it sets the operating environment your filings land in — assume court staff are working under approved-tools and confidentiality constraints, and align your own AI-use discipline (verify every citation, protect client data) to the standard the courts now hold themselves to. Track the NYSBA report separately as the bar-facing guidance.
N.Y. State Unified Court System · Interim Policy on the Use of AI (eff. Oct. 2025) · nycourts.gov · a.i.-policy.pdf
Per the NY State Department of Health, as of 2026 the DOH 30-month transfer-of-assets lookback for community-based long-term care has still not been implemented (pending CMS approval of the 1115 waiver amendment after years of federal maintenance-of-effort holds). New York is a medically-needy state that does not use the 300% FBR cap; excess income is spent down or directed to a pooled-income trust rather than barring eligibility.
For a New York solo with home-care clients, this is a live planning window: transfers for community-based long-term care are not yet subject to a lookback, so eligibility planning that would be foreclosed in a nursing-home (institutional) posture remains available for community care — but treat it as time-limited and confirm current implementation status at each engagement, because the lookback is enacted and could be switched on once CMS approves.
N.Y. State Dept. of Health · 30-Month Lookback (community-based LTC) · health.ny.gov · 30-month lookback
Per New York’s Real Property Law § 424 (added by L.2024, effective July 19, 2024), New York now authorizes a transfer-on-death deed for the first time: two witnesses present at the same time plus notarization, recorded before the transferor’s death, revocable, with capacity measured as will capacity. Title underwriters issued 2025 guidance on insuring TOD-deed transfers, signaling the tool is moving from novelty into routine real-property practice. (The RPL § 424 statutory text was JS-gated on direct fetch and is corroborated from NYSBA and underwriter sources.)
This is a structural intake change for a New York T&E solo: the TOD deed is now a real probate-avoidance option for the home that did not exist before July 2024, so add it to the planning menu — but mind the same-time two-witness-plus-notary formality and the record-before-death requirement, and check the underwriter guidance before relying on insurability. For now, corroborate against the primary statute before quoting the formalities verbatim.
N.Y. Real Property Law § 424 (eff. July 19, 2024) · nysba.org · New York TOD deeds
Decisions from the courts that bind a New York practitioner — the Court of Appeals of New York and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Districts of New York, and the Second Circuit — read for what actually changes how you draft, advise, and plan. Trusts and estates broadly, not Medicaid alone: wills and capacity, undue influence, fiduciary duty, trust construction, and estate recovery. One read, the holding, and the official cite.
Across the Court of Appeals of New York, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Districts of New York, and the Second Circuit, no qualifying trusts-and-estates or estate-recovery decision has been logged with a full citation this period. Per the lane’s no-invent rule, this row says so plainly rather than inflating a holding.
Nothing to re-paper from the bench this period; controlling authority is unchanged. CourtListener is used for discovery only and is never cited here as authority.
Awaiting verified weekly signal — CourtListener used for discovery only, never cited as authority.
This slot holds the next significant trusts-and-estates or estate-recovery decision from New York’s appellate courts or the federal courts covering New York. The lane reads each opinion before it lands here, and reads-and-discards Medicaid program/provider litigation as not T&E. When the trailing window has no new ruling, this row says so plainly rather than inventing one.
Nothing to re-paper from the bench this period; controlling authority unchanged.
[Official reporter · court · date — never courtlistener.com]
This week in New York for the T&E solo with New York Medicaid clients: the developments from the New York State Bar Association (Trusts and Estates Law Section) and the NY State Department of Health (Medicaid) that actually moved your practice this period — each one primary-source verified.
Bar and Medicaid changes land on different schedules and aren’t indexed by practice focus. Every item here was checked against its primary source, with the link, so you can verify before relying on it.