New York Trusts & Estates Law Blog

New York’s new power of attorney law will be going into effect on September 1, 2009. While attorneys and other financial professionals update their forms for next week, they should be prepared to have to do it again in the near future.

Back in June, two and a half months before the effective date of the statute, the New York State Assembly passed Bill No. A8392-A, which made some “technical corrections” to the statute and the statutory forms. Unfortunately, the State Senate was too busy bickering over Senate leadership to notice much of anything, least of all some technical corrections.

The bill passed by the Assembly clarifies some of language in the statute, including some changes to the statutory short form and the statutory major gifts rider. It also makes a few subtle but significant changes to the law.

For instance, the current new law states that unless the principal expressly provides otherwise, the execution of a power of attorney revokes all prior powers of attorney executed by the principal. The Assembly bill flips that around, and provides that the execution of a POA does not silently revoke all prior powers of attorney unless the principal gives written notice to the previously appointed agent.

Another change is in the limits to gifts an agent can give using the power of attorney – i.e., what the statute considers a non-major gift. The current statute allows the continuation of the principal’s customary gifts, with a limit of $500 per person or institution per year. For larger gifts, a statutory major gifts rider must be executed. The Assembly’s latest revision limits the total of all gifts taken together to $500.

These proposed changes are reflected in changes to the text of the statutory short form and the major gifts rider. So if the bill ever passes the Senate, the forms will have to be revised again. Add that to the list of results of the ridiculous power struggle in Albany.

Related posts:

1. New York’s revised power of attorney statute (#2)
2. Power of attorney created under the old New York statute still valid after 9/1/09
3. New York Power of Attorney and Statutory Major Gifts Rider forms
4. New York’s new power of attorney law
5. “Major revisions to New York Power of Attorney Law” in the Nassau Lawyer