Uniform Laws Update

Uniform Laws Update provides information on uniform and model state laws in development as they apply to property, trust, and estate matters. The editors of Probate & Property welcome information and suggestions from readers.

Uniform Laws Update Editor: Benjamin Orzeske, Chief Counsel, Uniform Law Commission, 111 N. Wabash Avenue, Suite 1010, Chicago, IL 60602.

2022 Legislative Update

State legislatures during their 2022 legislative sessions considered and enacted the following uniform acts and model acts of interest to RPTE members.

The Model Assignment of Rents Act was enacted in Michigan, the sixth state to do so. The act provides a comprehensive statutory system for the creation, perfection, and enforcement of security interests in rents from real property.

The Uniform Commercial Real Estate Receivership Act was enacted in Rhode Island and West Virginia, bringing the total number of enacting states to 12. This act standardizes the rules for receivers appointed to manage commercial property, resulting in greater predictability for litigants, lenders, and parties doing business with a company under receivership.

The Uniform Directed Trust Act was enacted in Kansas, the latest of 16 states to do so. This act clarifies the fiduciary duties and powers of trustees and other persons appointed under the terms of a trust to exercise some of a trustee’s traditional powers. The act was also introduced in New York and Rhode Island.

Utah enacted the Uniform Easement Relocation Act, becoming the second state to adopt this act, which encourages access easement holders to allow benign relocations and provides a procedure to obtain a court order for relocation when it would not harm the easement holder’s access rights. Nebraska has also adopted this act.

The United States Virgin Islands became the fifth jurisdiction to enact the Uniform Electronic Wills Act, which was also introduced in Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia. This act allows estate planners to offer online services, including the execution of wills, with appropriate security procedures. (A companion act, the Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act, was approved by the Uniform Law Commission in 2022 and is now available for states that wish to adopt more comprehensive reforms.)

The Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act was enacted in Virginia, the sixth state to adopt this modern update of the 1997 Uniform Principal and Income Act. The new act has comprehensive rules for unitrust conversions. The act was also introduced in California, Missouri, and Tennessee.

The most-enacted uniform law in 2022 was the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, the latest version of which includes optional provisions for remote ink notarization (RIN) in addition to remote online notarization (RON). Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the US Virgin Islands adopted the latest version of this act, with all but Rhode Island and Vermont electing to allow RIN. They join New Jersey, which enacted the latest revision last year, and 22 other states that have adopted the 2018 version that included the RON option only.

The Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act was adopted in Maryland and Utah and considered by eight more legislatures last year. This act deters abusive partition actions that can force the sale of family-owned real estate, often resulting in sales prices at public auctions that are far below the fair market value. The act implements a series of due-process protections, including independent appraisal, an option for current owners to purchase the shares of selling owners, and a requirement for open-market sales rather than auctions. Twenty-one states have adopted this act.

Vermont enacted the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act, becoming the thirty-ninth state to do so. This act enables but does not require recording offices to accept deeds and other documents in electronic form for recording. The Missouri Legislature also considered the act this year.

Oklahoma updated its statutes by adopting the Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trusts Act, a more comprehensive version of an earlier uniform law that overrode the common-law prohibition on pour-over wills. Twenty-seven states have adopted the latest version of this act.

Indiana became the thirteenth state to adopt the Uniform Trust Decanting Act, which governs the distribution of trust assets into a new trust with different terms. The act allows decanting for permissible purposes and clarifies when decanting is restricted.

Finally, the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act was adopted in South Carolina, the final state to do so—proving that true uniformity of state law is still possible!

A few other uniform RPTE acts were introduced last year but did not cross the finish line: The Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act in Florida, the new Uniform Community Property Disposition of Death Act in Nebraska, the Uniform Power of Attorney Act in the District of Columbia and Vermont, the Uniform Real Property Transfer

on Death Act in Maryland, New Hampshire, and Tennessee, and the Revised Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act in Kentucky. In two states that have year-long legislative sessions, bills were pending at press time: the Uniform Trust Code in New York and the Uniform Power of Attorney Act in Michigan.

ULC Legislative Counsel provides support for the enactment of uniform laws in your state. Contact ULC Chief Counsel Benjamin Orzeske at (312) 4506621 or borzeske@uniformlaws.org. More information about these acts and other ULC drafting projects is available at www.uniformlaws.com.

Published in Probate & Property, Volume 37, No 1 © 2023 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.