republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20092010/ab-1163.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Attorney-client privilege: decedent's estates."
description: "(1) Under existing law, a client of a lawyer has a privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent another from disclosing, a confidential communication between the client and lawyer if the privilege is claimed by the holder of the privilege, a person who is authorized to claim the privilege by the holder, or the person who was the lawyer at the time of the confidential communication. However, the lawyer may not claim the privilege if there is no holder of the privilege in existence or if he or she is otherwise instructed by a person authorized to permit disclosure. \"Holder of the privilege\" is defined for purposes of these provisions to include the client, a guardian or conservator of the client, the personal representative of the client if the client is dead, and a successor, assign, trustee in dissolution, or any similar representative of a firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, or public entity that is no longer in existence."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20092010"
identifier: "AB 1163"
citation: "California AB 1163 (20092010)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Attorney-client privilege: decedent's estates."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Tran"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2009-02-27"
last_action: "2009-06-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6eeed276-becf-4a35-a7e7-3d86b3412599"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1163"
source_hash: "ecf45f0370d896e2166b020430400b98037b4c8635ffc09a978f933dd68a90d3"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 1163 (20092010) — Attorney-client privilege: decedent's estates.

(1) Under existing law, a client of a lawyer has a privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent another from disclosing, a confidential communication between the client and lawyer if the privilege is claimed by the holder of the privilege, a person who is authorized to claim the privilege by the holder, or the person who was the lawyer at the time of the confidential communication. However, the lawyer may not claim the privilege if there is no holder of the privilege in existence or if he or she is otherwise instructed by a person authorized to permit disclosure. "Holder of the privilege" is defined for purposes of these provisions to include the client, a guardian or conservator of the client, the personal representative of the client if the client is dead, and a successor, assign, trustee in dissolution, or any similar representative of a firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, or public entity that is no longer in existence.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/27/09 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1163&version=20090AB116399INT)
2. **03/26/09 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1163&version=20090AB116398AMD)
3. **06/29/09 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1163&version=20090AB116396CHP)
4. **AB1163** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1163)
5. **06/16/09 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1163&version=20090AB116397ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1163 TRAN Consent Calendar Second Day Regular Session — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be placed on the Consent Calendar. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Consent Calendar 2nd AB1163 Tran — **pass** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Tran — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2009-02-27** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2009-03-01** From printer. May be heard in committee March 30.
- **2009-03-02** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2009-03-26** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2009-03-26** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2009-03-27** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-02** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2009-04-21** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (April 21). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-04-22** Read second time. To Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-04-27** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1109.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-04-27** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2009-05-14** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2009-06-09** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (June 9). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-06-10** Read second time. To Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-06-15** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 1297.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-06-15** In Assembly. To enrollment.
- **2009-06-18** Enrolled and to the Governor at 10:30 a.m.
- **2009-06-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2009-06-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 8, Statutes of 2009.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6eeed276-becf-4a35-a7e7-3d86b3412599`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).