2000 Legislation
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SENATE BILL NO. 1373 – Will registry, established

SENATE BILL NO. 1373

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Daily Data Tracking History



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

Bill Text


 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 / Fiscal Impact



                     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