I am not a lawyer. My wife practiced Trust & Estates law, and this is from memory of our discussion on this topic.

You can leave your shares in the co-op in your will to anyone. If your Proprietary Lease is the one commonly in use, the person you leave it to will have to undergo the same financial review, interview, and any other activities normally associated with a new purchase. The person is *not* guaranteed the shares will be transferred into their name just because the deceased owner said so.

In your will you might want to direct that the shares be sold by the executor of your estate and the proceeds from the sale given to your friend and not bequest to your friend outright.

Keep in mind that there are overlapping and sometimes contradictory tax consequences in the way your estate is distributed. All of these questions should be answerable by the attorney who is preparing your estate. If you're not using an attorney, whatever will you prepare stands a good chance of being disqualified, at which point the Surrogate's or Probate Court will step in and do what *they* want.

Remember, I Am Not A Lawyer. I was just married to one. You need to seek the advice of a qualified T&E attorney to make sure what you want after you're gone is what will actually take place.

Thank you Steve. I have an appointment with an attorney next week. Your advice was very informative and helpful.

Thanks, Queens.

FYI Steve, I now have a will. It was very easy and the fee was well worth the peace if mind. Thanks again...

Hi Queens - I'm glad you found the estate planning process to be a positive experience and many bonus points for going to an attorney. :-D

I hope others on this board read your messages and feel a little less anxious about taking the first step.

May you not need probate for a very very long time!
--- Steve

I *strongly* advise you to have a Trust & Estates attorney draft your childrens' Will. I know there are costs involved, but once they are gone, whatever is in their Wills is almost impossible to undo.

My wife was a Trust and Estates partner in a mid-sized law firm. I know how complex and costly some wills can be, but when you're dealing with critical issues like the guardianship of minor children, the language needs to be precise and all the rules and laws followed to the letter. One misstatement, one incorrect condition added or word misused, could turn your childrens' intentions upside-down.

When she would discuss her interesting matters with me she would often muse that she billed the most hours unwinding or recharacterizing wills and other estate documents created by non-T&E attorneys.

If you are a T&E attorney, my apologies for stating the obvious.

--- Steve

Thank you Steven 424. You always give sound advice.

You're welcome, Mary

It is not pertinent to housing.

Sorry that your husband passed away what you want to do is not uncommon.
If you know the President of the board ask what you're Coop or Condo requires, I can tell you what my Coop does but each one has different procedures.
You can also check your By-Laws to see if they have what you need to know and what to do.
Your daughter might not have to appear before the board, they most likely all know her.
Since it's Sunday you can call your managing agent they may have a copy of the application or it maybe on their website.
Best of luck

Hello
Can you put that in a will that your apt goes to your daughter and she would be the executive your your will. Also can you gift it to her beforehand?

You should be able to find the answers to most of your questions in your Proprietary Lease. In the PL for my co-op, paragraph 16(b) states

"16(b) If the Lessee shall die, consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed to an assignment of the lease and shares to a financially responsible member of the Lessee’s family (other than the Lessee’s spouse as to whom no consent is required)."

The key here w/r/t your daughter is the term "unreasonably withheld". Under most circumstances when a person dies, the family member inheriting the co-op is an adult with a sufficient and stable source of income and/or assets. The reason your daughter will probably need to submit a financial package is to make sure she will be able to afford the co-op's maintenance and mortgage payments if there are any. The board wants to avoid the complicated and expensive eviction process if your daughter is chronically delinquent with her maintenance payments.

As PC#1 stated, the best way to make sure there are no succession issues and to get your daughter's name on the stock certificate is an informal conversation with the board president. He'll most likely tell you what could interfere with adding your daughter. If there are any issues, resolving them will make it a quick and simple process.

In a situation like this where the person you want to add is not your spouse (and I am very sorry for your loss) a consult with an attorney who specializes in co-op law will be money well spent.

Beware. If you give ownership now, and not when you pass away, then she will have to pay a possibly large capital gains when she sells. For an individual 250 k is exempt but over and above that = beware.
maybe you can just add her name to the lease now.
find a smart lawyer.

Condolences to you regarding your husband. If she has been living there for years I'm sure the neighbors know her as one person here posted and she most likely would not have an issue staying there. That next to her income and being able to pay the taxes,maintenance fees per month would be the boards only concern. Most co-ops don't want a person who would be a problem to them. I named my daughter as beneficiary on my paperwork with the co-op, but ever co-op works differently with that scenario. You may look into that and see if its doable? Best of luck!

I doubt I am wrong, but while the sponsor may not have to get Board approval for renovations but they do/should have to abide by the renovation rules and policies.

I'm not trying to sound snarky, but are you sure the fees are *legally* not allowed? The Business Judgment Rule gives co-op boards a lot of leeway in imposing fees.

Unless an attorney actually told you to write "in protest" on your check, legally you might be doing yourself more harm than good. It doesn't sound as if writing "in protest" by itself will get the fees removed. If you withhold any part of your maintenance, at some point you could find yourself a party to an eviction suit.

I am not an attorney, but I have a lot of respect for the intricacies of the law and the administrative codes.

Steve - To clarify, many leases do not allow for the imposition of legal fees unless there is an actual default and a court determination.
This is to protect shareholders. If you have a bad or spiteful board they could otherwise abuse the situation.

Does anyone out there know the answer to the small claims option? - and, yes , writing 'in protest' on a check is a real thing.

Steve,
1) You write in protest" on the check.
2) They cash it.
3) You then take them to small claims court to get the money back.
Yes, this was originally advised by an attorney.

Hi, I believe the NYC DOB form you need is the PW1. Section 26A of that form is for co-op signature, where the co-op attests that they have reviewed and approved the proposed project. In order for the co-op to evaluate the project, you should be prepared to submit plans, references, licenses, budgets, tenant protection plans, covid safety plans, etc. -- whatever materials the co-op needs to feel comfortable with your proposed alteration in order to sign the PW1. That said, based on what you wrote, you may wish to reconsider your architect. Co-op renovations are unique given that shareholders do not own their walls or inside them (check your lease), and technically do not even own their units (instead, own shares in the co-op). An architect who does not understand this (apparently yours does not, based on the forms given to date) may not be sufficiently knowledgeable about co-op alterations to successfully complete the project.

I would back up "Christine E Nov 22, 2021" point that if the architect cannot provide you with the correct form seek another architect. Heed the Warning. The second concern and question is why wasn't your building management company able to tell you what the form is or provide you with the form? That is your second warning that this may not go as smoothly as you hope. The architect should know all about NYC and the Coop requirements. At this point sounds to me as though you are chasing after the architect and management and you should not be. Take a look at your contract with the architect, it should say that the Architect is responsible for submitting all the required paperwork to NYC and the management company. Talk to other Architects, doesn't seem like the one you have is alert.