Bill Text: NY S06409 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
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
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. LBD11643-01-9S. 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.