ISBA Statehouse Review for April 28, 2016
ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers The Parentage Act of 2015 (House Bill 4447), Income shares and child support (House Bill 3982), New filing fee (Senate Bill 3162), IMDMA cleanup (House Bill 1190), Trust law (Senate Bill 2842), Personal guardian (House Bill 5924), Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (House Bill 4648) and Land Trust Beneficiary Rights Act (House Bill 4697). More information on each bill is available below the video.
The Parentage Act of 2015. House Bill 4447 (Kelly Burke, D-Oak Lawn; Mulroe, D-Chicago) amends the recently enacted Parentage Act of 2015. That Act was drafted to be in compliance with a proposed Illinois Supreme Court Rule that required the name and date of birth of children to be replaced with their initials and year of birth. This proposed Supreme Court Rule (now rescinded) also required that child support orders contain only the last four digits of a child’s and parents’ social security number. It is not possible to effectively administer the Title IV-D child support program that requires compliance with federal law and cooperation with other states without this necessary personal information. House Bill 4447 corrects this problem by requiring the needed personal information but requires that this information be non-public.
The Act did not contain the phrase “the allocation of parental responsibilities” as created by the recent rewrite of the IMDMA. This amendment would replace the word “custody” where applicable with “the allocation of parental responsibilities” to use the same terminology and to be consistent with the IMDMA.
House Bill 4447 clarifies the required notices on the acknowledgment of parentage form. House Bill 4447 also provides that any voluntary acknowledgment or denial or rescission of acknowledgement of parentage that was completed before the effective date of the Act is valid if it met all criteria for validity at the time it was signed.
In the section concerning temporary orders, House Bill 4447 specifies that “child” includes a non-minor child with a disability to be consistent with the IMDMA and to provide for non-minor disabled children born to unmarried couples. House Bill 4447 applies to all pending actions and proceedings commenced before its effective date for issues on which a judgment has not been entered. Passed the House and now in the Senate.
Income shares and child support. House Bill 3982 (Kelly Burke, D-Oak Lawn; Hastings, D-Matteson) moves Illinois into the majority of other states that have an “income shares” model for adjudicating child support. Passed the House and now in the Senate.
New filing fee. Senate Bill 3162 (Harmon, D-Oak Park; Cassidy, D-Chicago) creates a new $9 fee to defray the cost associated with electronic filing and other e-business programs and case management systems in the circuit courts. It will be assessed against all civil litigants and defendants who have been convicted of a traffic, ordinance, conservation, or criminal charge. The court may waive the fee in appropriate cases, and it may not be charged in any matter for a change of venue or in any proceeding to review the decision of any administrative officer, agency, or body. Passed the Senate and now in the House.
IMDMA cleanup. House Bill 1190 (Kelly Burke, D-Oak Lawn) is a cleanup of last year’s rewrite of the IMDMA for technical cleanup for such things as referring to a section that no longer exists, etc. It does contain some substantive changes. It has been re-referred to House Rules Committee.
Trust law. Senate Bill 2842 (Silverstein, D-Chicago) seeks to reverse the holding of the Mendelson case (2016 IL App (2d) 150084). It provides that the transfer of real property to a trust requires a transfer of legal title to the trustee evidenced by a written instrument of conveyance and acceptance by the trustee. Provides that for any interest in real property to become trust property in a trust of which any transferor is a trustee, the instrument of conveyance shall additionally be recorded in the appropriate real property records. Passed the Senate and now in the House.
Personal guardian. House Bill 5924 (Fine, D-Glenview; Silverstein, D-Chicago) amends the personal guardian statute in the Probate Code. If there is no court order to the contrary, requires the guardian to use reasonable efforts to notify the ward’s known adult children, who have requested notification and provided contact information, of the ward’s admission to a hospital or hospice program, the arrangements for the disposition of the ward’s remains, or the ward’s death.
If a guardian unreasonably prevents an adult child of the ward from visiting the ward, the court, upon a verified petition by an adult child, may order the guardian to permit visitation between the ward and the adult child if the court finds that the visitation is in the ward’s best interests. In making its determination, the court shall consider the standards set forth in current law. subsection (e) of this Section. This new subsection (g) does not apply to duly appointed Public Guardians and the Office of State Guardian. Passed the House and now in the Senate.
Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. House Bill 4648 (Welch, D-Westchester; Connelly, R-Wheaton) provides procedures and requirements for the access and control by guardians, executors, agents, and other fiduciaries of the digital assets of persons who are deceased, under a legal disability, or subject to the terms of a trust. Passed the House and now in the Senate.
Land Trust Beneficiary Rights Act. House Bill 4697 (Williams, D-Chicago; Hastings, D-Matteson) provides that the rights of a beneficial owner may not be impaired in any way by the change of trustees if the identity of the trustee of a land trust has been changed by virtue of sale, assignment, appointment, or otherwise, but the beneficial owner or owners of the land trust remain unchanged. Provides that a change of trustees by a sale, acquisition, or appointment governed by the Corporate Fiduciaries Act is not a bar or defense to any court action filed by or in the name of either the previous trustee or the new trustee, regardless of whether the court action was originally filed in a representative capacity on behalf of the beneficial owner or owners. Passed the House and now in the Senate.