2006 Legislation
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SENATE BILL NO. 1325 – Probate code, interested person

SENATE BILL NO. 1325

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S1325................................................by JUDICIARY AND RULES
PROBATE CODE - Amends existing law relating to the Uniform Probate Code to
revise the definition for "interested person."
                                                                        
01/30    Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
01/31    Rpt prt - to Jud

Bill Text


                                                                        
                                                                        
  ]]]]              LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO             ]]]]
 Fifty-eighth Legislature                   Second Regular Session - 2006
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                       IN THE SENATE
                                                                        
                                    SENATE BILL NO. 1325
                                                                        
                              BY JUDICIARY AND RULES COMMITTEE
                                                                        
  1                                        AN ACT
  2    RELATING TO THE UNIFORM PROBATE CODE; AMENDING SECTION 15-1-201,  IDAHO  CODE,
  3        TO  REVISE  THE DEFINITION FOR "INTERESTED PERSON" AND TO MAKE A TECHNICAL
  4        CORRECTION.
                                                                        
  5    Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
                                                                        
  6        SECTION 1.  That Section 15-1-201, Idaho Code, be, and the same is  hereby
  7    amended to read as follows:
                                                                        
  8        15-1-201.  GENERAL  DEFINITIONS.  Subject  to  additional definitions con-
  9    tained in the subsequent chapters which are applicable to specific chapters or
 10    parts, and unless the context otherwise requires, in this code:
 11        (1)  "Application" means a written request to the registrar for  an  order
 12    of informal probate or appointment under part 3 of chapter 3 of this code.
 13        (2)  "Augmented  estate"  means  the estate described in section 15-2-202,
 14    Idaho Code.
 15        (3)  "Beneficiary," as it relates to trust beneficiaries, includes a  per-
 16    son  who  has  any  present or future interest, vested or contingent, and also
 17    includes the owner of an interest by assignment or other transfer  and  as  it
 18    relates  to  a  charitable  trust, includes any person entitled to enforce the
 19    trust.
 20        (4)  "Child" includes any individual entitled to take  as  a  child  under
 21    this  code  by  intestate  succession  from  the  parent whose relationship is
 22    involved and excludes any person who is only a stepchild, a  foster  child,  a
 23    grandchild or any more remote descendant.
 24        (5)  "Claims,"  in  respect to estates of decedents and protected persons,
 25    includes liabilities of the decedent or protected person  whether  arising  in
 26    contract,  in  tort or otherwise, and liabilities of the estate which arise at
 27    or after the death of the decedent or after the appointment of a  conservator,
 28    including  funeral  expenses and expenses of administration. The term does not
 29    include estate or inheritance taxes, other tax obligations arising from activ-
 30    ities or transactions of the estate, demands or disputes regarding title of  a
 31    decedent  or protected person to specific assets alleged to be included in the
 32    estate.
 33        (6)  "Court" means the court or  branch  having  jurisdiction  in  matters
 34    relating  to the affairs of decedents, minors, incapacitated and disabled per-
 35    sons. This court in this state is known as the district court.
 36        (7)  "Conservator" means a person who is appointed by a  court  to  manage
 37    the  estate  of  a  protected  person  and  includes  limited  conservators as
 38    described by section 15-5-420, Idaho Code.
 39        (8)  "Determination of heirship of community  property"  shall  mean  that
 40    determination required by the provisions of section 15-3-303, Idaho Code, upon
 41    an application for informal probate not accompanied by presentation of a will.
 42        (9)  "Determination of heirship" shall mean that determination of heirship
 43    required by section 15-3-409, Idaho Code, upon a finding of intestacy.
                                                                        
                                           2
                                                                        
  1        (10) "Devise,"  when  used  as a noun, means a testamentary disposition of
  2    real or personal property and when used as a verb, means to dispose of real or
  3    personal property by will.
  4        (11) "Devisee" means any person designated in a will to receive a  devise.
  5    In  the  case  of a devise to an existing trust or trustee, or to a trustee or
  6    trust described by will, the trust or trustee is the devisee and  the  benefi-
  7    ciaries are not devisees.
  8        (12) "Disability,"  with  respect  to  an  individual, means any mental or
  9    physical impairment which substantially limits one  (1)  or  more  major  life
 10    activities  of the individual including, but not limited to, self-care, manual
 11    tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, learning, or working, or  a  record
 12    of  such  an  impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment. Dis-
 13    ability  shall   not   include   transvestism,   transsexualism,   pedophilia,
 14    exhibitionism,  voyeurism,  other  sexual behavior disorders, or substance use
 15    disorders, compulsive gambling, kleptomania, or pyromania.  Sexual  preference
 16    or  orientation  is  not  considered  an  impairment or disability. Whether an
 17    impairment substantially limits a major  life  activity  shall  be  determined
 18    without  consideration  of  the affect effect of corrective or mitigating mea-
 19    sures used to reduce the effects of the impairment.
 20        (13) "Distributee" means any person who has received property of  a  dece-
 21    dent from his personal representative other than as a creditor or purchaser. A
 22    testamentary trustee is a distributee only to the extent of distributed assets
 23    or  increment  thereto remaining in his hands. A beneficiary of a testamentary
 24    trust to whom the trustee has distributed property received  from  a  personal
 25    representative  is  a distributee of the personal representative. For the pur-
 26    pose of this provision "testamentary  trustee"  includes  a  trustee  to  whom
 27    assets are transferred by will, to the extent of the devised assets.
 28        (14) "Emancipated  minor"  shall mean any male or female who has been mar-
 29    ried.
 30        (15) "Estate" means all property  of  the  decedent,  including  community
 31    property  of  the  surviving  spouse  subject  to  administration, property of
 32    trusts, and property of any other person whose affairs  are  subject  to  this
 33    code as it exists from time to time during administration.
 34        (16) "Exempt property" means that property of a decedent's estate which is
 35    described in section 15-2-403, Idaho Code.
 36        (17) "Fiduciary"  includes  personal representative, guardian, conservator
 37    and trustee.
 38        (18) "Foreign personal representative" means a personal representative  of
 39    another jurisdiction.
 40        (19) "Formal proceedings" means those conducted before a judge with notice
 41    to interested persons.
 42        (20) "Guardian"  means a person who has qualified as a guardian of a minor
 43    or incapacitated person pursuant to  testamentary  or  court  appointment  and
 44    includes  limited  guardians as described by section 15-5-304, Idaho Code, but
 45    excludes one who is merely a guardian ad litem.
 46        (21) "Heirs" means those persons, including the surviving spouse, who  are
 47    entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a dece-
 48    dent.
 49        (22) "Incapacitated person" is as defined in section 15-5-101, Idaho Code.
 50        (23) "Informal proceedings" means those conducted without notice to inter-
 51    ested  persons by an officer of the court acting as a registrar for probate of
 52    a will or appointment of a personal representative.
 53        (24) "Interested person"  includes  heirs,  devisees,  children,  spouses,
 54    creditors,  beneficiaries  and  any others having a property right in or claim
 55    against a trust estate or the estate of a decedent, ward or  protected  person
                                                                        
                                           3
                                                                        
  1    which  may be affected by the proceeding. It also includes persons having pri-
  2    ority for appointment as personal representative, and other fiduciaries repre-
  3    senting interested persons. The meaning as it relates  to  particular  persons
  4    may  vary from time to time and must be determined according to the particular
  5    purposes of, and matter involved in, any proceeding. It also includes any gov-
  6    ernmental agency paying or planning to pay monetary benefits to  the  ward  or
  7    protected  person  and,  in  a guardianship or conservatorship proceeding, any
  8    public or charitable agency that regularly concerns itself with methods    for
  9    preventing  unnecessary  or overly intrusive court intervention in the affairs
 10    of persons for whom protective orders may be sought and that seeks to partici-
 11    pate in the proceedings.
 12        (25) "Issue" of a person means all his lineal descendants of  all  genera-
 13    tions,  with  the  relationship  of  parent and child at each generation being
 14    determined by the definitions of child and parent contained in this code.
 15        (26) "Lease" includes an oil, gas, or other mineral lease.
 16        (27) "Letters" includes letters  testamentary,  letters  of  guardianship,
 17    letters of administration, and letters of conservatorship.
 18        (28) "Minor"  means  a  male  under eighteen (18) years of age or a female
 19    under eighteen (18) years of age.
 20        (29) "Mortgage" means any conveyance, agreement or  arrangement  in  which
 21    property is used as security.
 22        (30) "Nonresident  decedent" means a decedent who was domiciled in another
 23    jurisdiction at the time of his death.
 24        (31) "Organization" includes a  corporation,  government  or  governmental
 25    subdivision  or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or associa-
 26    tion, two (2) or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any  other
 27    legal entity.
 28        (32) "Parent"  includes any person entitled to take, or who would be enti-
 29    tled to take if the child died without a will, as a parent under this code  by
 30    intestate  succession  from  the  child  whose relationship is in question and
 31    excludes any person who is only a stepparent, foster parent, or grandparent.
 32        (33) "Person" means an individual, a corporation, business trust,  estate,
 33    trust,  partnership,  limited  liability  company, association, joint venture,
 34    public corporation, government, governmental subdivision, agency,  or  instru-
 35    mentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.
 36        (34) "Personal representative" includes executor, administrator, successor
 37    personal  representative,  special administrator, and persons who perform sub-
 38    stantially the same function under the law governing  their  status.  "General
 39    personal representative" excludes special administrator.
 40        (35) "Petition"  means  a  written request to the court for an order after
 41    notice.
 42        (36) "Proceeding" includes action at law and suit in equity.
 43        (37) "Property" includes both real and personal property or  any  interest
 44    therein and means anything that may be the subject of ownership.
 45        (38) "Protected person" is as defined in section 15-5-101, Idaho Code.
 46        (39) "Protective  proceeding"  is  as  defined  in section 15-5-101, Idaho
 47    Code.
 48        (40) "Quasi-community  property"  is  the  property  defined  by   section
 49    15-2-201, Idaho Code.
 50        (41) "Registrar" refers to magistrates or judges of the district court who
 51    shall  perform  the  functions  of  registrar as provided in section 15-1-307,
 52    Idaho Code.
 53        (42) "Security" includes any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture,
 54    evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in an  oil,
 55    gas  or  mining  title  or lease or in payments out of production under such a
                                                                        
                                           4
                                                                        
  1    title or lease, collateral trust certificate, transferable share, voting trust
  2    certificate or, in general, any interest or instrument  commonly  known  as  a
  3    security,  or  any  certificate of interest or participation, any temporary or
  4    interim certificate, receipt or certificate of deposit for, or any warrant  or
  5    right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing.
  6        (43) "Settlement,"  in reference to a decedent's estate, includes the full
  7    process of administration, distribution and closing.
  8        (44) "Special administrator" means a personal representative as  described
  9    by sections 15-3-614 through 15-3-618, Idaho Code.
 10        (45) "State"  includes  any  state  of  the United States, the District of
 11    Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and  any  territory  or  possession
 12    subject to the legislative authority of the United States.
 13        (46) "Successor  personal representative" means a personal representative,
 14    other than a special administrator, who is appointed to succeed  a  previously
 15    appointed personal representative.
 16        (47) "Successors" means those persons, other than creditors, who are enti-
 17    tled to property of a decedent under his will or this code.
 18        (48) "Supervised  administration"  refers  to the proceedings described in
 19    part 5, chapter 3, of this code.
 20        (49) "Testacy proceeding" means a proceeding to establish a will or deter-
 21    mine intestacy.
 22        (50) "Trust" includes any express trust, private or charitable, with addi-
 23    tions thereto, wherever and however created. It also includes a trust  created
 24    or  determined  by  judgment or decree under which the trust is to be adminis-
 25    tered in the manner of an express trust. "Trust" excludes  other  constructive
 26    trusts, and it excludes resulting trusts, conservatorships, personal represen-
 27    tatives,  trust  accounts  as  defined  in  chapter  6 of this code, custodial
 28    arrangements pursuant to chapter 8, title 68, Idaho Code, business trusts pro-
 29    viding for certificates to be issued to  beneficiaries,  common  trust  funds,
 30    voting  trusts,  security arrangements, liquidation trusts, and trusts for the
 31    primary purpose of paying debts, dividends, interest, salaries,  wages,  prof-
 32    its,  pensions,  or  employee  benefits of any kind, and any arrangement under
 33    which a person is nominee or escrowee for another.
 34        (51) "Trustee" includes an original,  additional,  or  successor  trustee,
 35    whether or not appointed or confirmed by court.
 36        (52) "Ward" is as defined in section 15-5-101, Idaho Code.
 37        (53) "Will" is a testamentary instrument and includes codicil and any tes-
 38    tamentary  instrument  which merely appoints an executor or revokes or revises
 39    another will.
 40        (54) "Separate property" is as defined in section 32-903, Idaho Code.
 41        (55) "Community property" is as defined in section 32-906, Idaho Code.

Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact


                       STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

                            RS: 15748

The definition of "interested person" in the Probate Code is
extremely important, since many other statutes in the Probate Code
require notice to be given to, or consent obtained from, from any
interested person and also gives other rights to any interested
person.  There are, however, two expansions of the definition of an
"interested person" buried in other areas of the probate code, but
not reflected or referenced in the definition of "interested
person".  Many persons, including attorneys, using the probate code
look only to the main definition and are unaware of the other two
expansions of that definition.  Therefore, to give better notice of
those two expansions of the definition, the exact language of those
expansions are added by this bill to the definition of "interested
person". 


                          FISCAL NOTE

This bill will have no fiscal impact.




CONTACT:
Name:     Robert L. Aldridge, Trust & Estate Professionals of Idaho, Inc.
          Telephone: office: (208) 336-9880  Cell: (208) 631-2481

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE                        S 1325