This is the third and final post in a series about new Illinois probate and estate laws taking effect in late 2016 or the beginning of 2017. Read Part 1 and Part 2.
In all, last year the Illinois legislature passed 192 new laws.
To download a summary of all of them in an excel chart, click here.
This week I will provide short summaries of seven additional new Illinois laws that relate to real property, guardianship, disability and death.
1. Transfers of Property into Trust. Public Act 099-0743 (eff. 1/1/17) requires all transfers of real property into trust to be in a writing accepted by the trustee and provides that the transfer is not effective unless recorded with the recorder of deeds in the county where the real property is located.
2. Land Trust Beneficiary Rights. Public Act 099-0609 (eff. 1/1/17) provides that the rights of beneficiaries cannot be altered by change in identity of land trustee and that such a change is not a bar or defense to a pending court action.
3. Statute of Limitations in Certain Wrongful Death Cases. Public Act 099-0587 (eff. 1/1/17) lengthens the statute of limitations for the filing of a wrongful death lawsuit from 2 years to 5 years for violent acts in certain circumstances.
4. Visitation for Adult Children of Disabled Adult. Public Act 099-0821 (eff. 1/1/17) amends the duties of a personal guardian to include certain notification rights for adult children of a disabled ward.
5. Short-Term Guardianship for Children of Armed Forces Members. Public Act 099-0599 (eff. 1/1/17) allows active-duty military members to appoint a short-term guardian for minor children for the length of service plus 30 days.
6. Child Bereavement Leave. Public Act 099-0703 (eff. 7/29/16) creates the Child Bereavement Leave Act, which provides that an employee may use specified amounts of bereavement leave to grieve the death of the employee’s child, attend services in relation to the death of the employee’s child, or make arrangements necessitated by the death of the employee’s child.
7. ABLE Accounts Cleanup. Public Act 099-0516 (eff. 6/30/16) and Public Act 099-0563 (eff. 7/15/16) make technical corrections to the enabling legislation passed in 2015, which allow for 529-style accounts for disabled individuals. The Illinois ABLE program recently became available (information here).