BILL NUMBER: S3260

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the estates, powers and trusts law, in relation to
disqualification as a surviving spouse

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of the bill is to permit the disqualification of a spouse to
take a share of a decedent's estate if there is an annulment of the
marriage before or after the death of the decedent.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Section 5-1.2 of the Estates, Powers and Trust Law is amended
as follows: A final decree or judgment of annulment or declaring the
nullity of a void marriage or dissolving such marriage, is issued before
or after the deceased spouse died. In the event any such decree or judg-
ment is issued after the deceased spouse died, the marriage shall be
deemed a nullity immediately prior to the death of such spouse.
              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New York State's Estates, Power and Trust Law, EPTL, permits a surviving
spouse with a right of election to take a share of the decedent's estate
as long as the parties were married on the date of the decedent's death.
Thus, a husband or wife is a surviving spouse unless it can be estab-
lished satisfactorily to the court that any grounds for disqualification
within EPTL are present including, among others, final decree or judg-
ment of divorce, annulment or other formal declaration of the nullity of
a marriage at the time of the decedents death.

Currently, under the New York's Domestic Relations Law a marriage in New
York can be annulled post-death. However, this post-death status has no
effect on the right of a spouse to take an elective share of decedent's
assets because NYS EPTL 5-1.2 specifies that it is the marital status of
the parties at the time of the decedent death that controls in New York.

Hence, several recent court decisions have highlighted a specific type
of elder abuse where a person takes unfair advantage of an individual
who lacks the capacity to enter into a marriage or otherwise utilizes
fraud and undue influence to secretly marry the individual for the
purpose of obtaining a portion of his or her estate at the expense of
the intended heirs. If they are married at the time of the decedents
death, none of the grounds for disqualification under the existing EPTL
statute 5-1.2 exist, and the surviving "spouse" is entitled to his or
her elective share under EPTL 5-1.1 unless the court intervenes for
equitable reasons or the court determines the statute ordains the
protection of fraud. Yet, some courts have been reluctant to do this in
light of the present unambiguous and strict statutory language.

This legislation focuses on the disqualification ground concerning a
final decree of annulment or other formal declaration of the nullity of
a marriage which exists at the time of the decedent's death. It would
make the EPTL statute compatible with the remedial actions authorized
under the Domestic Relations Law, permitting the disqualification of a

spouse on the annulment of the marriage before or after the death of the
decedent.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.0720 of 2021-2022 (Hoylman): Passed Senate / Died in Judiciary

A.0487 of 2021-2022 (Braunstein): Died in Judiciary

S.3345 of 2019-2020(Hoylman): Died in Judiciary

A.0248 of 2019-2020 (Braunstein):Died in Judiciary

S.6640 of 2018 (Bonacic): Died in Judiciary

S.6640 of 2017 (Bonacic): Died in Rules

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to State.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.