BILL NUMBER: S8295A
SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the surrogate's court procedure act, in relation to
requiring all letters granted to personal representatives contain
certain restrictions
 
PURPOSE:
To amend SCPA 702 to require that all letters - whether of administra-
tive or testamentary issues to personal representatives include
restrictions pursuant to SCPA 702(1), regardless of whether the petition
discloses a wrongful death cause of action.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
The proposed amended SCPA 702(1) requires that all letters granted to
personal representatives "shall restrain the holder thereof from compro-
mise of any cause of action arising from the death of the decedent...
until the further order of the court".
The proposed new section, SCPA 702(2), contains the same unaltered
provisions formerly in SCPA 702(1) which the court may utilize, re-for-
matted.
 
JUSTIFICATION:S:
In response to the current provisions as set forth in SCPA 702, Surro-
gate's Courts have taken two different approaches: (1) over-restricted
letters such that it restrains fiduciaries from compromising any claim
or cause of action, which (a) infringes upon the fiduciary's statutory
power to settle personal injury causes of action unrelated to decedent's
death and other causes of action unrelated to decedent's death; (b)
creates undue delay; and (c) unnecessarily increases the burden on the
courts' limited resources; or (2) under-restricted Letters, which can
result in the settlement of a wrongful death action being approved,
awarded, and allocated by the Supreme Court, without the Surrogate's
Court's review.
The proposed restrictions would (a) increase consistency and uniformity
of the Surrogate's Courts, (b) align with the legislative intent and
language of all relevant statutes (EPTL 11 - 1.1(b)(13); EPTL 4-1.1;
EPTL 5-4.4; EPTL 5-4.6), and (c) thereby allow Surrogate's Court to
allocate its limited resources to critical areas in order to ensure
expanded access to justice and efficient delivery of its services.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This law shall take effect immediately.