Senate Bill S4657

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S4657

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend estates, powers and trusts law, in
relation to delaying obtaining exempt items from a decedent's estate
while charged with their death and disqualifying from collecting
exempt items from a decedent's estate where guilty of causing their
death

 PURPOSE :

To provide protections of a decedent's estate so as to not have a
beneficiary/surviving spouse or child inherit property of the decedent
if the survivor is accused and is in fact found guilty or pleads
guilty to the death of the decedent.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1- This act shall be known and may be cited as "Angela's law."

Section 2 - Amends 5-3.1 of the estates, powers and trusts law by
adding paragraph e, which holds the transfer of property to the
surviving spouse or child of a decedent for the pendency of a criminal
case if the surviving spouse or child has been charged with their
death. Further, if the surviving spouse or child is found guilty or
pleads guilty to a crime related to the death of the decedent, then
the guilty spouse or child shall be considered disqualified from
              

taking a share of the decedent's estate under this section.

Section 3 - Effective date of the act.

 JUSTIFICATION :

This bill is named after Angela Morgan of Columbia County who a jury
determined was murdered by her husband. Under the current law, section
5-3.1 of the estates powers and trusts law allows for the transfer of
one vehicle with a value up to $25,000 to the surviving spouse. Though
there are certain disqualifications to obtaining property under
section 5-1.2 of the law, they do not currently cover circumstances if
a surviving spouse is found to have caused the death of the decedent's
spouse. This bill preserves the recognition of the defendant's
presumption of innocence by delaying any transfer until the murder
charge against the surviving spouse has been resolved and would
disqualify transfer of such property if the survivor pleads or is
found to have caused the death of the spouse.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
The bill shall take effect immediately.