Removes the prohibition on individuals convicted of a felony that prevents them from being appointed fiduciary of an estate; allows the court the discretion to permit or prevent such appointment of an individual convicted of a felony; and allows for the appointment of an interpreter during the appointment process for the fiduciary of an estate.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7412--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 1, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. FALL, DICKENS, D'URSO, WILLIAMS, SAYEGH, GOTT-
FRIED, O'DONNELL, WRIGHT, EPSTEIN, ORTIZ, BARRON, PICHARDO -- Multi-
Sponsored by -- M. of A. COOK -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Judiciary -- recommitted to the Committee on Judiciary in
accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the surrogate's court procedure act, in relation to
removing the prohibition on individuals convicted of a felony that
prevents them from being appointed fiduciary of an estate
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraphs (d) and (e) of subdivision 1 and subdivision 2
2 of section 707 of the surrogate's court procedure act, paragraph (e) as
3 amended by chapter 514 of the laws of 1993, are amended and a new subdi-
4 vision 3 is added to read as follows:
5 (d) [a felon
6 (e)] one who does not possess the qualifications required of a fiduci-
7 ary by reason of substance abuse, dishonesty, improvidence, want of
8 understanding, or who is otherwise unfit for the execution of the
9 office.
10 2. Persons ineligible in court's discretion. The court may declare
11 ineligible to act as fiduciary:
12 (a) a person unable to read and write the English language; or
13 (b) an individual convicted of a felony whose crime may be adverse to
14 the welfare of the estate, including but not limited to, crimes such as
15 embezzlement or any crime where there was a misappropriation of money or
16 a breach of fiduciary duty.
17 3. Interpreter. Upon request of a person subject to the court's
18 discretion under subdivision two of this section, the court shall
19 provide an interpreter to interpret the testimony of any person who does
20 not speak the English language well enough to be readily understood.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10968-05-0
