Bill Text: NY S06409 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to the privilege between a personal representative and the attorney to lifetime trustees.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-11-20 - SIGNED CHAP.529 [S06409 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S06409-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6409

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                      June 7, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sen. GAUGHRAN -- (at request of the Office of Court Admin-
          istration)  --  read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
          committed to the Committee on Rules

        AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules,  in  relation  to  the
          privilege  between a personal representative and the attorney to life-
          time trustees

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Paragraph 2 of subdivision (a) of section 4503 of the civil
     2  practice  law and rules, as added by chapter 430 of the laws of 2002, is
     3  amended to read as follows:
     4    2. Personal representatives. (A) For purposes of  the  attorney-client
     5  privilege,  if  the client is a personal representative and the attorney
     6  represents the personal representative in that capacity, in the  absence
     7  of  an agreement between the attorney and the personal representative to
     8  the contrary:
     9    (i) No beneficiary of the estate is,  or  shall  be  treated  as,  the
    10  client  of the attorney solely by reason of his or her status as benefi-
    11  ciary; [and]
    12    (ii) The existence of a fiduciary relationship  between  the  personal
    13  representative  and  a  beneficiary  of  the  estate  does not by itself
    14  constitute or give rise to any waiver of the privilege for  confidential
    15  communications made in the course of professional employment between the
    16  attorney  or  his or her employee and the personal representative who is
    17  the client; and
    18    (iii) The fiduciary's testimony that he  or  she  has  relied  on  the
    19  attorney's advice shall not by itself constitute such a waiver.
    20    (B)  For  purposes  of this paragraph, "personal representative" shall
    21  mean (i) the administrator, administrator c.t.a., ancillary  administra-
    22  tor,  executor,  preliminary executor, temporary administrator, lifetime
    23  trustee or trustee to whom letters have been issued within  the  meaning

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11643-01-9
        S. 6409                             2

     1  of  subdivision  thirty-four  of section one hundred three of the surro-
     2  gate's court procedure act, and (ii) the guardian  of  an  incapacitated
     3  communicant if and to the extent that the order appointing such guardian
     4  under  subdivision (c) of section 81.16 of the mental hygiene law or any
     5  subsequent order of any court expressly provides that the guardian is to
     6  be the personal representative  of  the  incapacitated  communicant  for
     7  purposes of this section; "beneficiary" shall have the meaning set forth
     8  in  subdivision  eight  of  section one hundred three of the surrogate's
     9  court procedure act and "estate" shall have the  meaning  set  forth  in
    10  subdivision  nineteen  of  section  one hundred three of the surrogate's
    11  court procedure act.
    12    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.