Article 45. Evidence · Last amended 2019 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceCPLR 4503 protects confidential communications between a lawyer and client made during professional employment from compelled disclosure, extends that protection to eavesdroppers and government proceedings, and sets special rules for personal representatives and will disputes.
(a)1. Confidential Communication Privileged. Unless the client waives the privilege, an attorney or his or her employee, or any person who obtains without the knowledge of the client evidence of a confidential communication made between the attorney or his or her employee and the client in the course of professional employment, shall not disclose, or be allowed to disclose such communication, nor shall the client be compelled to disclose such communication, in any action, disciplinary trial or hearing, or administrative action, proceeding or hearing conducted by or on behalf of any state, municipal or local governmental agency or by the legislature or any committee or body thereof. Evidence of any such communication obtained by any such person, and evidence resulting therefrom, shall not be disclosed by any state, municipal or local governmental agency or by the legislature or any committee or body thereof. The relationship of an attorney and client shall exist between a professional service corporation organized under article fifteen of the business corporation law to practice as an attorney and counselor-at-law and the clients to whom it renders legal services.
2. Personal Representatives.
(A)For purposes of the attorney-client privilege, if the client is a personal representative and the attorney represents the personal representative in that capacity, in the absence of an agreement between the attorney and the personal representative to the contrary:
(i)No beneficiary of the estate is, or shall be treated as, the client of the attorney solely by reason of his or her status as beneficiary;
(ii)The existence of a fiduciary relationship between the personal representative and a beneficiary of the estate does not by itself constitute or give rise to any waiver of the privilege for confidential communications made in the course of professional employment between the attorney or his or her employee and the personal representative who is the client; and
(iii)The fiduciary’s testimony that he or she has relied on the attorney’s advice shall not by itself constitute such a waiver.
(B)For purposes of this paragraph, “personal representative” shall mean (i) the administrator, administrator c.t.a., ancillary administrator, executor, preliminary executor, temporary administrator, lifetime trustee or trustee to whom letters have been issued within the meaning of subdivision thirty-four of section one hundred three of the surrogate’s court procedure act, and (ii) the guardian of an incapacitated communicant if and to the extent that the order appointing such guardian under subdivision (c) of section 81.16 of the mental hygiene law or any subsequent order of any court expressly provides that the guardian is to be the personal representative of the incapacitated communicant for purposes of this section; “beneficiary” shall have the meaning set forth in subdivision eight of section one hundred three of the surrogate’s court procedure act and “estate” shall have the meaning set forth in subdivision nineteen of section one hundred three of the surrogate’s court procedure act.
(b)Wills and revocable trusts. In any action involving the probate, validity or construction of a will or, after the grantor’s death, a revocable trust, an attorney or his employee shall be required to disclose information as to the preparation, execution or revocation of any will, revocable trust, or other relevant instrument, but he shall not be allowed to disclose any communication privileged under subdivision (a) which would tend to disgrace the memory of the decedent.
Plain-English Summary
Subdivision (a)(1) is the backbone of New York's attorney-client privilege. Unless the client waives it, neither the attorney, the attorney's employee, nor anyone who gets hold of a confidential communication without the client's knowledge, can disclose it, and the client cannot be forced to disclose it either. That protection reaches beyond ordinary court cases; it covers disciplinary trials and administrative or legislative proceedings conducted by state or local government. The privilege runs with the relationship rather than the person, so it extends to a professional service corporation formed to practice law and to the clients it represents.
Paragraph 2 answers a recurring estate-litigation question: when an attorney represents an executor or administrator, does a beneficiary of the estate get to claim the privilege too, or force a waiver by pointing to the fiduciary duty owed to beneficiaries? The statute says no on both counts, absent an agreement to the contrary. A beneficiary is not treated as the attorney's client merely by being a beneficiary, the fiduciary relationship between the personal representative and beneficiaries does not itself waive the privilege, and a fiduciary's testimony that she relied on the attorney's advice does not waive it either. The subdivision defines personal representative, beneficiary, and estate by cross-reference to the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act and the Mental Hygiene Law, reaching guardians of incapacitated persons along with administrators and executors.
Subdivision (b) bends the privilege once a case turns on probating, validating, or construing a will, or on a revocable trust after the grantor has died. The attorney who drafted or handled the instrument must disclose what she knows about its preparation, execution, or revocation, on the theory that the decedent's intent, once dead, is the question in dispute and the drafting attorney is often the only witness who can speak to it. The exception has a limit, though: the attorney still cannot reveal a privileged communication that would tend to disgrace the decedent's memory.
Because the privilege belongs to the client, only the client can waive it, and the statute's language binds the lawyer independently of anything the client says at the moment testimony is sought. The rule also reaches eavesdropping: someone who overhears or obtains a privileged communication without the client's knowledge is bound by the same disclosure bar as the lawyer, and so is any government body that later receives such evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the attorney-client privilege in New York?
CPLR 4503 bars an attorney or the attorney's employee from disclosing a confidential communication made by a client during professional employment, and it bars the client from being compelled to disclose it too, unless the client waives the privilege.
Who can waive the attorney-client privilege under CPLR 4503?
Only the client. The privilege belongs to the client, and absent the client's waiver, neither the attorney nor anyone who obtains the communication without the client's knowledge may disclose it.
Does the attorney-client privilege apply outside of courtroom testimony?
Yes. CPLR 4503(a) extends the privilege to disciplinary trials and to administrative or legislative proceedings conducted by state, municipal, or local government.
If a lawyer represents an executor, can a beneficiary claim the attorney-client privilege too?
No, not merely by being a beneficiary. CPLR 4503(a)(2) treats the personal representative as the sole client unless the attorney and the representative agree otherwise.
Does an executor waive the privilege by testifying that he relied on his lawyer's advice?
No. CPLR 4503(a)(2) says that testimony alone does not waive the privilege, and neither does the fiduciary relationship between the personal representative and the estate's beneficiaries.
Can a lawyer be forced to testify about how a will was prepared?
Yes, in a case over the will's probate, validity, or construction. CPLR 4503(b) requires the attorney to disclose information about the will's preparation, execution, or revocation, though not a privileged communication that would disgrace the decedent's memory.
Does the privilege apply to law firms organized as professional corporations?
Yes. CPLR 4503(a)(1) extends the attorney-client relationship, and its privilege, to a professional service corporation organized to practice law and the clients it serves.
What happens if someone secretly overhears a privileged conversation between a lawyer and client?
CPLR 4503(a)(1) still bars disclosure. Anyone who obtains evidence of a confidential communication without the client's knowledge is barred from disclosing it, and any government agency that receives such evidence cannot disclose it either.
Advisory Committee Notes
This section makes no substantive changes in the former law.
Subd (a). CPA § 353 was amended and a new § 353-a was added in 1958 as a result of Lanza v N.Y.S. Joint Legis. Comm. 3 NY2d 92, 143 NE2d 772 (1957). NY Laws 1958, c. 851; see Report of the Joint Legislative Committee on Privacy of Communications and Licensure of Private Investigators 37–38 (NY Leg Doc No. 9 (1958)); Prashker, 1958 Civil Practice Changes, 30 NYSB Bull 173, 178 (1958). Two changes were made in § 353: addition of the words “disclose, or” and addition of the eavesdropper provision. The beginning of § 353-a (up to but not including the words “nor shall the client”) was identical with the beginning of § 353 as amended, and the only remaining differences were that § 353-a added (1) the phrase “nor shall the client be compelled to disclose”; (2) that § 353-a applied to testimony in the specified nonjudicial proceedings; and (3) that § 353-a contained an additional provision preventing disclosure by the governmental agency. Subd (a) of this section covers both sections as amended by the 1958 legislation. It includes the words “disclose, or” and the eavesdropper provision that were added to § 353, plus the three additional matters covered by § 353-a.
Subd (b) consists of those portions of former § 354 which affected the attorney-client privilege. Minor language changes have been made but the substance is unaffected. It is clear that former § 353 and those portions of former § 354 embodied in this subdivision must be read together. See In re Matheson’s Will, 283 NY 44, 27 NE2d 427 (1940). Combining them in one section makes this apparent. The phrase “shall be required to disclose information” is substituted for “shall not disqualify . . . from becoming a witness” to make it uniform with the phraseology in former § 352 (“may be required to testify”) and 354 (“may disclose”). The meaning is the same in all instances, viz.: if the testimony is otherwise admissible, the witness may not refuse to answer on the ground of privilege.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308, eff Sept 1, 1963; amd, L 1977, ch 418, § 1; L 2002, ch 430, § 1, eff Aug 20, 2002; L 2016, ch 262, § 1, effective August 19, 2016; L 2019, ch 529, § 1, effective November 20, 2019.
Source & verification. Provision text, History, and Advisory
Committee Notes are reproduced verbatim from the Consolidated Laws of New York.
Last verified July 21, 2026.
· Official source
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