NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9572
SPONSOR: Braunstein TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the surrogate's court procedure act, in relation to the
service of process upon limited liability corporations and limited
liability partnerships
This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of
the Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of his Surro-
gate's Court Advisory Committee.
SCPA 307(5) provides for service of process upon "persons other than
natural persons," among others, in proceedings, filed in Surrogate's
Court. Currently, this subdivision directs that, unless the SCPA
provides otherwise or the court in a particular proceeding otherwise
directs, service of process on a person other than a natural person
shall be made in accordance with CPLR 307 (personal service upon the
state), 310 (personal service upon a partnership), 311 (personal service
upon a corporation or governmental subdivision), and 312 (personal
service upon a court, board or commission).
In 1999, the Legislature amended the CPLR to add CPLR 310-a and 311-a to
provide for personal service upon a limited partnership (including a
limited liability partnership) and upon limited liability companies,
respectively. However, at that time, the Legislature did not amend SCPA
307 to make CPLR 310-a and CPLR 311-a applicable to service of process
in Surrogate's Court proceedings.
The Surrogate's Court Procedure Act provides explicit and comprehensive
directives for effecting service of process in Surrogate's Court
proceedings. The absence of a rule, or cross-reference to a rule, for
service of process upon a limited liability partnership or a limited
liability company is anomalous to the statutory framework and creates a
potential source for confusion and uncertainty.
The proposed amendment addresses these concerns by adding the personal
service provisions of CPLR 310-a and CPLR 311-a to SCPA 307(5). By doing
so, this amendment is consistent with the purpose of the statute to
provide clear, definitive direction for service of process on all cate-
gories of persons in a Surrogate's Court proceeding.
This measure, which would have no fiscal impact on the State, would take
effect immediately and apply to proceedings filed on or after its effec-
tive date.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None. New proposal.
