§ 4503 — Attorney

New York § 4503

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law CVP: Civil Practice Law & Rules
• Art. 45: Evidence

Text

§ 4503. Attorney. (a) 1. Confidential communication privileged.\nUnless the client waives the privilege, an attorney or his or her\nemployee, or any person who obtains without the knowledge of the client\nevidence of a confidential communication made between the attorney or\nhis or her employee and the client in the course of professional\nemployment, shall not disclose, or be allowed to disclose such\ncommunication, nor shall the client be compelled to disclose such\ncommunication, in any action, disciplinary trial or hearing, or\nadministrative action, proceeding or hearing conducted by or on behalf\nof any state, municipal or local governmental agency or by the\nlegislature or any committee or body thereof. Evidence of any such\ncommunication obtained by any such person, and evidence resulting\ntherefrom, shall not be disclosed by any state, municipal or local\ngovernmental agency or by the legislature or any committee or body\nthereof. The relationship of an attorney and client shall exist between\na professional service corporation organized under article fifteen of\nthe business corporation law to practice as an attorney and\ncounselor-at-law and the clients to whom it renders legal services.\n 2. Personal representatives. (A) For purposes of the attorney-client\nprivilege, if the client is a personal representative and the attorney\nrepresents the personal representative in that capacity, in the absence\nof an agreement between the attorney and the personal representative to\nthe contrary:\n (i) No beneficiary of the estate is, or shall be treated as, the\nclient of the attorney solely by reason of his or her status as\nbeneficiary;\n (ii) The existence of a fiduciary relationship between the personal\nrepresentative and a beneficiary of the estate does not by itself\nconstitute or give rise to any waiver of the privilege for confidential\ncommunications made in the course of professional employment between the\nattorney or his or her employee and the personal representative who is\nthe client; and\n (iii) The fiduciary's testimony that he or she has relied on the\nattorney's advice shall not by itself constitute such a waiver.\n (B) For purposes of this paragraph, "personal representative" shall\nmean (i) the administrator, administrator c.t.a., ancillary\nadministrator, executor, preliminary executor, temporary administrator,\nlifetime trustee or trustee to whom letters have been issued within the\nmeaning of subdivision thirty-four of section one hundred three of the\nsurrogate's court procedure act, and (ii) the guardian of an\nincapacitated communicant if and to the extent that the order appointing\nsuch guardian under subdivision (c) of section 81.16 of the mental\nhygiene law or any subsequent order of any court expressly provides that\nthe guardian is to be the personal representative of the incapacitated\ncommunicant for purposes of this section; "beneficiary" shall have the\nmeaning set forth in subdivision eight of section one hundred three of\nthe surrogate's court procedure act and "estate" shall have the meaning\nset forth in subdivision nineteen of section one hundred three of the\nsurrogate's court procedure act.\n (b) Wills and revocable trusts. In any action involving the probate,\nvalidity or construction of a will or, after the grantor's death, a\nrevocable trust, an attorney or his employee shall be required to\ndisclose information as to the preparation, execution or revocation of\nany will, revocable trust, or other relevant instrument, but he shall\nnot be allowed to disclose any communication privileged under\nsubdivision (a) which would tend to disgrace the memory of the decedent.\n