Please read this
Four things this site is not
Short version in the footer. Full version here. If a sentence is hard, the safer reading is the cautious one.
1. Not legal advice
PortaEstate is an organizer published by Earlville Media LLC. The score, the letter, the tab map, and any later drafts are information and document assembly. They are not legal advice. They are not a substitute for a lawyer who knows your family.
New York law changes. Benefits rules change. Your facts are yours. Read every page before anyone signs anything.
2. No attorney-client relationship unless it is in writing
Using this website, taking the score, or writing an email does not make Porta Law P.C. your lawyer. It does not make Earlville Media LLC your lawyer. An attorney-client relationship with Porta Law P.C. starts only if you both sign a written engagement.
Until then, do not send privileged facts you would only tell a lawyer you have hired. Review mail goes to 1@portaestate.com. Product mail goes to 1@portaestate.com.
Porta Law P.C., William J. Porta, Esq., 42 Maple Ave, Hamilton, NY 13346.
3. Security limits
The free score runs in your browser. Answers are kept in this browser session so you can go back a question. They are not sent to our servers when you click through the score. If you copy the letter into an email, that email is ordinary email.
v1 has no login and no account. We will not claim that “we never store data” as a blanket statement. When accounts exist, the plan is multi-factor authentication, encryption at rest, a Proton Drive export, and a way for you to delete your data. Those controls are not live on this public site tonight.
Do not type passwords, seed phrases, Social Security numbers, or bank account numbers into this site.
4. Complexity threshold: talk to a lawyer
Stop and talk to a New York lawyer (and, if needed, a lawyer in another state) before anyone relies on a draft, if any of these are true:
- You want to leave property outright to a person with a disability, or a TOD/POD form already does.
- You need a special needs trust, including a first-party SNT or a pooled trust joinder.
- You need a 17-A or Article 81 petition, or letters of guardianship.
- There is real property outside New York.
- There is a multi-owner business.
- A spouse is not a U.S. citizen.
- You want to disinherit a spouse or a child.
- There is already an irrevocable trust, or you want one.
- The estate may be large enough that New York estate tax is a real question.
- Someone is in a nursing home, or Medicaid planning is the point of the project.
The organizer can still collect facts and build watermarked drafts. It will not unlock a will or trust while those issues are open. That is a feature.
Who publishes this
PortaEstate is published by Earlville Media LLC. Optional attorney review is offered by Porta Law P.C. They are not the same company. Paying for the organizer is not paying for legal services.