In 1990, the New York State Senate and Assembly by joint resolution created the Advisory Committee to the Legislature on the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) and the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA) for the purposes of bringing up to date the Bennett Commission’s work that created the EPTL and SCPA.
Committee Reports
The committee submitted six reports. The first report dealt with Articles 4 and 5 of EPTL (the Decent and Distribution Statute and Right of Election); the second revised the SCPA; the third proposed the Prudent Investor Rule; the fourth dealt with revocable and irrevocable trusts; and the fifth dealt with the Uniform Principal and Income Act. Substantial legislation was enacted implementing much of the recommendations set forth in reports one to five. As to the sixth report, after 22 years, the committee wound down its work and submitted its final report where it set forth existing New York statutory and case law dealing with testamentary and non-testamentary trusts. It reviewed and compared that with the Uniform Trust Code that was enacted by many states.
