Legislative update

Pending bills on trust and estate issues:

• HB1149 provides for strict application of an in terrorem clause of a will in an action to contest the will, if the party contesting the will does not prevail. HB1149 passed the House unanimously and is now pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
• SB725 expands the Oklahoma slayer statute to persons who have been convicted of abuse, neglect or exploitation of a vulnerable adult under 21 O.S. 843.3.  SB725 passed the Senate unanimously and is now pending before the House Judiciary and Civil Procedure Committee.
• HB2152 and SB774 contain amendments that would allow a trust to exist in perpetuity so long as the absolute power of alienation is not suspended beyond lives in being plus 21 years. The proposed amendments would provide: “The absolute power of alienation is not suspended if there is any person in being who, alone or in combination with one or more others, has the power to sell, exchange, or otherwise convey the real or personal property.” These proposed amendments appear to be directed toward the suggestion that the Oklahoma constitutional prohibition against perpetuities is a prohibition against suspension of the power of alienation. The Senate version passed the Senate unanimously and stands referred to the House. The House version likewise passed the House unanimously and stands referred to the Senate. 
• SB57 places a time limit (15 months) on letters of guardianship unless renewed. SB57 passed the Senate unanimously and is now referred to the House Judiciary and Civil Procedure Committee.
• SB449 amends the Title 30 notice statute to add all adult children of any deceased brothers or sisters of the subject of a guardianship proceeding, in the event that the subject has no living parent. SB449 passed the Senate unanimously and is assigned to the House Judiciary and Civil Procedure Committee.