Davidov Law Group

Focus and practice areas

Two connected fields shape the work here: estate planning and elder law. Davidov Law Group is a boutique firm on Long Island, and it keeps its work to those two areas. The estate planning side covers wills, trusts, and probate, together with powers of attorney, health care proxies, and advance directives. Each of those documents does a defined job in how a person's property and care get decided.

The firm also prepares special needs trusts and charitable trusts, each governed by its own tax and eligibility rules. On the elder law side, the work includes Medicaid planning, asset protection, and guardianship. The firm handles estate administration and trust administration once a plan takes effect. In my opinion, holding both areas together suits families who plan for later-life care and the passing of an estate at the same time.

The estate planning documents

A will directs how property passes and names an executor to carry that out. A trust holds assets under terms the grantor sets, and it can keep some property clear of the probate court. Powers of attorney and health care proxies name a person to act on financial and medical decisions if the client loses capacity. Advance directives put a client's wishes for care in writing before a crisis.

Special needs trusts and charitable trusts belong to the same family of tools, with tighter rules attached. A special needs trust lets a family provide for a relative with a disability while protecting that person's access to public benefits. A charitable trust routes assets to a cause and can carry tax treatment a plain gift does not. Drafting either one calls for care, which is one reason a firm pairs the work with financial planning.

The elder law side

Elder law reaches decisions that arrive later in life. Medicaid planning studies how a person holds assets so they can qualify for long-term care benefits within the program's rules, which in New York include look-back periods on transfers. Asset protection uses trusts and timing to shield savings from the cost of that care. Guardianship petitions go before a court when someone can no longer manage their own affairs, and a judge decides who fills the role. Timing matters in each of these, since courts and benefit programs weigh when transfers happened.

Estate administration and trust administration come after a death or a triggering event. The executor or trustee gathers assets, settles debts and taxes, and distributes what remains under the will or trust. Probate is the court step that confirms a will and clears the executor to act. The firm names each of these among its services, so one office can carry a plan into effect when the time comes.

How the team is built

A husband-and-wife team leads the firm. Ilana F. Davidov is a founding partner, and Michael Davidov is a partner. A third attorney, Audrey Bernhardt, works on trust and estate administration. Three names appear on the attorney page, each with a defined role.

One detail there is worth flagging. Michael Davidov holds the Certified Financial Planner designation, so a CFP and an attorney meet in one person. That in-house planner coordinates estate and financial plans together, which matters when a trust and an investment portfolio need to line up. Both founding attorneys continue their legal education in estate planning, elder law, and taxation each year.

The planning-and-law pairing

Estate work often runs on two tracks at once: the legal documents and the money that fills them. A will or trust sets the rules, and a financial plan decides which accounts and assets go inside those rules. Having both skills in one office can shorten that back-and-forth, since one person can read the trust and the balance sheet together. The firm points to this pairing as part of how it works with families.

Client base and reach

The firm dates its work to 2001. By its own account, thousands of families have turned to it since then, drawn from Long Island and New York City. As a reviewer, I read a run of that length as a sign of steady referral and repeat work. Estate firms tend to grow this way, since one family often returns across generations for new documents and updates.

The service area covers two of the busiest parts of the state for estate work. Long Island and New York City both carry high property values and layered family situations, which raise the stakes on a clear will or trust. A firm rooted in that market meets those questions often.

What the record shows

The firm publishes a clear account of itself online. It names three attorneys, two core practice areas, and the services under each. It states Michael Davidov's CFP credential and a start year of 2001. Those are details a family can confirm before a first meeting.

One structural point sums up the setup. The firm groups estate planning and elder law together, and it keeps a Certified Financial Planner and attorneys working from one office.

The Garden City office

The firm keeps a single office in Garden City. Its listed address is 1122 Franklin Avenue, Suite 102, so the practice sits in a suite inside a Franklin Avenue building. Garden City is on Long Island, the same area the firm names as its home base and main source of clients. For a family deciding where to bring estate papers, a fixed local address like this one is easy to reach for the signings and meetings that ask for an in-person visit.

The office lists one phone line, (516) 253-1366, as its point of contact. A caller reaches a small practice working from one suite, so the person who answers is close to the person who drafts the plan. In my view, that short line of contact suits estate work, where a client often returns over the years to update documents and wants a familiar office on the other end.

Schooling and areas of focus

The three attorneys reached this practice by different paths. Ilana F. Davidov earned her law degree at the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, the law school of Touro College. Michael Davidov studied at the CUNY School of Law. Audrey Bernhardt holds a law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, earned in 1981.

Their listed focus areas share estate planning as a common thread while each leans a little differently. Both founders name estate tax planning among their areas, a subject that comes into play once an estate is large enough to face estate tax. Ilana Davidov also lists asset protection, and Michael Davidov lists special needs trusts, so the two split some of the finer work between them. Audrey Bernhardt names guardianships and trusts, which sits close to the administration matters she handles.

Read side by side, the profiles help a client aim a question at the right desk. Someone asking about a tax-heavy estate can look to the founders, while a guardianship petition points toward Bernhardt. Estate planning is the ground all three share, and the narrower tags mark where each one spends more of the day.