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S1373................................................by JUDICIARY AND RULES
WILL REGISTRY - Adds to existing law to provide for the establishment and
maintenance of a will registry by the Secretary of State; and providing
that fees be deposited in the General Fund.
02/07 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/08 Rpt prt - to Jud
02/17 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
02/18 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/24 3rd rdg - PASSED - 32-0-3
AYES--Andreason, Boatright, Bunderson, Burtenshaw, Cameron, Crow,
Darrington, Deide, Dunklin, Frasure, Geddes, Hawkins, Ingram, Keough,
King-Barrutia, Lee, McLaughlin, Noh, Parry, Richardson, Riggs, Risch,
Sandy, Schroeder, Sorensen, Stegner, Stennett, Thorne, Walton,
Wheeler, Whitworth, Williams
NAYS--None
Absent and excused--Danielson, Davis, Ipsen
Floor Sponsor - Bunderson
Title apvd - to House
02/25 House intro - 1st rdg - to Jud
03/16 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/17 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
03/29 3rd rdg - PASSED - 66-1-3
AYES -- Alltus, Barraclough, Barrett, Bell, Bieter, Black, Boe,
Bruneel, Callister, Campbell, Chase, Cheirrett, Clark, Crow, Cuddy,
Deal, Denney, Ellsworth, Field(13), Field(20), Gagner, Gould, Hadley,
Hammond, Hansen(23), Hansen(29), Henbest, Jones, Judd, Kellogg,
Kempton, Kendell, Kunz, Lake, Loertscher, Mader, Marley, McKague,
Meyer, Montgomery, Mortensen, Moss, Moyle, Pearce, Pischner, Pomeroy,
Reynolds, Ridinger, Ringo, Robison, Sali, Schaefer, Sellman,
Shepherd, Smith, Smylie, Stevenson, Stoicheff, Stone, Taylor, Tilman,
Trail, Wheeler, Wood, Zimmermann, Mr Speaker
NAYS -- Hornbeck
Absent and excused -- Geddes, Jaquet, Linford
Floor Sponsor - Sali
Title apvd - to Senate
03/30 To enrol - rpt enrol - Pres signed
03/31 Sp signed
04/03 To Governor
04/04 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 181
Effective: 07/01/00
S1373
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ||||
Fifty-fifth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2000
IN THE SENATE
SENATE BILL NO. 1373
BY JUDICIARY AND RULES COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO A WILL REGISTRY; AMENDING CHAPTER 2, TITLE 15, IDAHO CODE, BY THE
3 ADDITION OF A NEW PART 10, CHAPTER 2, TITLE 15, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE FOR
4 THE ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF A WILL REGISTRY BY THE SECRETARY OF
5 STATE AND TO PROVIDE FEES.
6 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
7 SECTION 1. That Chapter 2, Title 15, Idaho Code, be, and the same is
8 hereby amended by the addition thereto of a NEW PART, to be known and desig-
9 nated as Part 10, Chapter 2, Title 15, Idaho Code, and to read as follows:
10 PART 10
11 WILL REGISTRY
12 15-2-1001. WILL REGISTRY. The secretary of state shall create and main-
13 tain a will registry. The information contained in such registry shall
14 include: the full name of the person making the will; the date the will was
15 made; and sufficient identification of the location of the will at the time of
16 registration. The method of registration shall be on a form required by the
17 secretary of state. The fee for registration shall be ten dollars ($10.00)
18 which shall be deposited by the secretary of state in the general fund. The
19 secretary of state shall not be liable in any way for the accuracy of the
20 information contained in the registry. The existence, or nonexistence, of a
21 registration for a particular will shall not be considered as an evidentiary
22 fact in any proceeding relating to such will. The failure to file information
23 about a will in the registry shall not be a factor in the validity of the
24 will, nor shall the failure to file be considered as malpractice on the part
25 of any attorney as to the will. Only interested persons as defined in section
26 15-1-201, Idaho Code, or their attorneys may search the records contained
27 herein. The secretary of state shall not be liable for the accuracy of the
28 representation of the interested person or the interested person's attorney.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 09736C1
It is often difficult to determine whether a deceased person has, or has not, executed a will. Wills may be
eventually found in the papers of the deceased, but sometimes are not, even though a will was in fact
executed. This is especially a problem when the person making the will has later become incompetent.
Calling to all the law firms in the local area is time consuming and expensive and may not locate the will
in any event. Creation of a voluntary will registry would allow the person making a will to file basic
information about the will (the name of the person, the date the will was done, and its location) so that the
will could be easily found, or at least its existence would be known. This would be kept at the Idaho
Secretary of State's office, filed on a web-site form. The Registry would be searched initially through the
Secretary of State's office, but eventually might be searched through the Internet without involvement of
any personnel of the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State would receive a fee of $10.00 for the
registration; the search would be without charge. In the event the procedure is shifted entirely to the
Internet, fees would not be needed. The registration would be entirely voluntary and failure to register
would not have any effect on the validity of the will. To promote privacy, only "interested persons" as
defined in the Probate Code, or their attorneys, can search the Registry. To avoid excessive cost to the
Secretary of State, and to have the search remain free of cost, the Secretary of State is not liable for the
accuracy of the representation that a searcher is an interested
person or an attorney thereof.
FISCAL NOTE
This bill should have no effect on revenues or expenditures. The Secretary of State can maintain the
Registry with existing personnel and in existing facilities. Internet access would be as part of existing
Internet resources already provided and maintained by the Secretary of State.
CONTACT:
Robert L. Aldridge
1209 North Eighth Street Boise, Idaho 83702-4297
Telephone: office: (208) 336-9880 home: (208) 88E!-4668 Fax: (208) 336-9882
e-mail: roberta@micron.net
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE S 1373