A provision was recently added to New York’s Estates, Powers and Trusts Law which may affect the ownership of cooperative apartments.  Under the revised statute, transfer on death (“TOD”) designations may now be used for securities in New York State.  These permit the owner of stock to designate a beneficiary on the stock registration so, that upon the death of the stockholder, the stock automatically transfers to the designated beneficiary without the expense and delay of a probate proceeding.  The same result could be obtained previously by designating an individual as a “joint tenant”, but a joint tenant is a… Read more