UNIFORM LAWS U P D AT E 2023 Legislative Update During 2023, state legislatures considered almost two hundred bills to adopt uniform laws recommended by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC). This column summarizes 2023 legislative activity involving uniform real property acts and uniform trust and estate acts. Real Property Arkansas and Washington adopted the Uniform Easement Relocation Act, which provides an exception to the common-law rule requiring the easement holder and the owner of the burdened estate to agree to the relocation of an easement. The uniform act allows the owner of a burdened estate unilaterally to relocate an easement under a courtsupervised process if the owner proves that the relocation will not cause any material harm to the easement holder’s interests. Four states have now adopted this uniform law. The District of Columbia and Washington both adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA), bringing the total number of enactments to 23. Idaho, Kentucky, and North Carolina saw UPHPA bills introduced, but the bills did not pass in the 2023 session. Three other UPHPA bills (in Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey) were still pending at press time. Six states introduced bills to adopt the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act (URPTODA), but none passed in 2023. Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Rhode Island will all likely carry
Uniform Laws Update Editor: Benjamin Orzeske, Chief Counsel, Uniform Law Commission, 111 N. Wabash Avenue, Suite 1010, Chicago, IL 60602. Contributing Author: Jane Sternecky, Legislative Counsel, Uniform Law Commission.
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.
over their bills to 2024 or reintroduce the act in a future legislative session. The total number of URPTODA enactments stands at 19, with another nine states allowing TOD transfers of real property under a non-uniform statute that predates the uniform act. The Georgia legislature failed to pass the latest version of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. A Maine bill to enact the 2021 amendments to the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act will be carried over to the 2024 session. A District of Columbia bill to enact the Uniform Commercial Real Estate Receivership Act and a Massachusetts bill to adopt the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act were both pending at press time. In 2024, the newly approved Uniform Unlawful Restrictions in Land Records Act will be available for states to consider. The act provides a uniform procedure for removing unlawful restrictions from the public land records while preserving each property’s chain of title and historical record. Drafted with significant input from the American Land Title Association and the Property Records Industry Association, this act will help bring uniformity to an area of the law where states have implemented highly variable procedures.
Trusts and Estates Arkansas and Colorado were the first states to adopt the Uniform Community Property Disposition at Death Act. An update of a 1971 uniform law, this act provides rules and procedures for probate courts and trustees in common-law states to properly dispose of property that was acquired as community property in another jurisdiction. A similar bill is pending in the District of Columbia City Council, while bills in Nebraska and North Carolina failed to pass last year. Kansas and Maryland were the 14th and 15th states to adopt the Uniform Trust Decanting Act (UTDA). The District of Columbia and Massachusetts also considered the UTDA as this issue went to press. The District of Columbia and Vermont adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act (UPOAA) in 2023, and bills in Massachusetts and Michigan were awaiting a hearing. The UPOAA governs financial powers of attorney and has been adopted in 31 jurisdictions. California became the seventh state to adopt the Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act, the latest set of accounting standards for trusts. A similar bill passed both houses of the Missouri legislature with slight differences, but the versions were not reconciled before the session calendar ended. Hawaii was the latest state to consider the Uniform Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Other Protective Arrangements Act (UGCOPAA), a comprehensive statute that brings guardianship law into the modern age. The bill did not pass but is being studied by an interim committee for a future legislative session. UGCOPAA was recommended for enactment in all states by the US Senate Special Committee on Aging and the 10 constituent
Published in Probate & Property, Volume 38, No 1 © 2024 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.
4
January/February 2024
