Bill > A08300

This bill modifies the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act regarding how trustees of charitable trusts can calculate and receive commissions. The bill changes the way trustees are compensated by limiting the commissions for trusts over $20 million and adjusting the percentage of commissions that can be taken from income and principal. Specifically, for trusts created solely for public, religious, charitable, scientific, literary, educational, or fraternal purposes, trustees can now receive annual commissions at 80% of the standard rates, and for any portion of a trust exceeding $20 million in principal value, trustees can only receive 50% of the standard commission rate. The bill also clarifies that for certain types of trusts, such as those with unitrust or annuity arrangements, commissions will be payable from the trust's corpus after accounting for specific distributions, and not from the annuity or unitrust amounts themselves. Additionally, the bill provides that trustees of charitable trusts will not be entitled to commissions for paying out principal. The changes will take effect 60 days after becoming law, with an option for existing trustees to continue using the previous commission calculation method until the end of the year the law takes effect.

Budget and Finance, Justice

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/A8300