S 7498: Provides a mechanism for establishing the existence of a writing creating or amending a lifetime trust which was either lost or destroyed.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7498 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE April 21, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary AN ACT to amend the surrogate's court procedure act, in relation to proof of lost or destroyed trusts The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The surrogate's court procedure act is amended by adding a 2 new section 1510 to read as follows: 3 § 1510. Proof of lost or destroyed trust 4 1. A lost or destroyed trust may be proved in a proceeding only if: 5 (a) Execution of the trust and any amendments thereto are proved in 6 the manner required by New York law, or by the applicable law of the 7 situs at the time of execution; 8 (b) The trust has not been revoked; and 9 (c) All of the provisions of the trust are established by a copy or 10 draft of the trust proved to be true and complete, or in the absence of 11 copy or draft of the trust, by establishing the following: 12 (i) the designated trustee of the trust; 13 (ii) the designated beneficiary or beneficiaries of the trust; 14 (iii) the dispositive provisions of the trust; and 15 (iv) that identifiable assets were transferred to and are held in the 16 trust. 17 2. There shall be a presumption of due execution where it is estab- 18 lished that assets were transferred to the trust. 19 3. There shall be a presumption that the trust was not revoked. 20 4. In any proceeding to prove a lost or destroyed trust: 21 (a) The person or persons seeking to challenge the validity of the 22 trust shall have the burden of proof to establish that the trust has 23 been revoked; and EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD07194-01-5 
 S. 7498 2 1 (b) The person or persons seeking to prove the validity of the trust 2 shall have the burden of proof on the requirements contained in para- 3 graphs (a) and (c) of subdivision one of this section. 4 5. Process must issue to the following persons, if not petitioners, in 5 a proceeding to establish or challenge the validity of a lost or 6 destroyed trust: 7 (a) All nominated trustees of the trust; 8 (b) All persons designated as beneficiaries of the trust; 9 (c) All distributees of the settlor, unless the court dispenses with 10 such process; 11 (d) The fiduciary of the settlor's estate as defined in subdivision 12 twenty-one of section one hundred three of this chapter, if any; 13 (e) The beneficiaries under the will of the settlor admitted to 14 probate or offered for probate in any court of competent jurisdiction; 15 (f) The attorney general if the trust is a charitable trust or if 16 there are persons unknown; and 17 (g) All such other persons as the court in its discretion may deter- 18 mine. 19 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.