How to Stay on Top of New York Legislative Bills Affecting Wills, Trusts, Estates, and Related Areas

A few weeks ago, in Linda Maryanov's trusts and estates study group, our fellow New York lawyer, the esteemed David Goldfarb, made an excellent suggestion: "We really need more people following what the legislature in New York is doing and making sure that they are not doing something that is going to affect us negatively."

"It's hard to stay on top of all of this," replied Linda.

Yes, it is quite difficult to stay on top of legislative proposals in New York that affect wills, trusts, and estates. So, I created a new page on this website to help more people follow what the legislature in New York is doing: NY Bills.

New York Bills: 2023-2024 Legislative Session

💡Below is a list of legislation that is introduced in the New York Senate and Assembly in the 2023-2024 legislative session that we think might be interesting to wills, trusts, and estates professionals. Please let us know if you recommend changes or additions to the list. Accountants A04189 & S…

Wills, Trusts, EstatesHani Sarji

Watching Legislature Is Challenging But Necessary

Making sure that legislature doesn't do something that will affect us negatively is an important goal. Last year, David and several other lawyers (including me) collaborated to get a proposed law that the legislature had passed vetoed by New York's Governor Hochul.

NY Power of Attorney: Bill Requiring Notice to Co-Trustee or Co-Beneficiary Passes Legislature, But Has Serious Problems!

The new law would literally be a breaking development as it is unworkable.

Wills, Trusts, EstatesHani Sarji

Good News: Gov. Hochul Vetoed NY Power of Attorney Bill Requiring Notice to Co-Trustee or Co-Beneficiary

New Yorkers should continue to oppose the proposed law.

Wills, Trusts, EstatesHani Sarji

David Goldfarb on Effecting Legislative Change in New York

Good work is being done by lawyers on a volunteer basis countless times across the United States, but we rarely learn about it.

Wills, Trusts, EstatesHani Sarji

Unfortunately, State Senator Skoufis reintroduced the vetoed law verbatim and subsequently amended it to make it even worse! See S03503.

A Resource

I created the NY Bills page to help us stay on top of legislative proposals in a few areas. I created an email alert for every bill I mention on the page, so I will update the page to reflect the latest status of each bill. But staying on top of new proposals will still be challenging and require effort, so please let me know if you notice something missing on the page or recommend any changes.

Special Thanks

I want to thank David for planting the seed in my mind to create the page and for all of the work he is doing respecting legislation.

I also want to thank Linda for her priceless study group. She created an environment where trusts and estates lawyers can ask questions, exchange ideas, and learn new things over Zoom.

Finally, I want to thank you, the reader. If you made it this far, then you're amazing. I look forward to learning your ideas and to meeting one day, even if the meeting is virtual.