SB1760

County-to-county transfers: the revised records procedure expressly covers a case begun in a county without proper venue as well as other transfers. The transferring clerk must record required, unrecorded papers within 10 working days after the transfer order. On payment of the clerk’s fee, the clerk sends the electronic transfer packet, including a standardized transfer certificate, a certified index, every order rather than only final orders, original-file copies including earlier transfers, and accrued costs. The clerk keeps copies; the receiving clerk accepts and dockets the case and electronically notifies the parties and transferring clerk. Only the certificate and index are stamped to show acceptance. Copies later issued by either clerk must include the certificate and index. Final law, sections 1–4.

Sureties on the guardian’s bond receive transfer citation by a qualified delivery method rather than personal service, and this notice provision now also covers wrong-venue transfers. Qualified delivery includes documented courier delivery, certified or registered mail with the required receipts, or a qualifying private delivery service—not ordinary email alone. The act repeals the former separate “continuation of guardianship” section. It does not erase the unchanged rule recognizing valid prior orders or the rule making transfer effective upon acceptance and docketing. Final law, sections 2 and 16; Qualified delivery; Repealed continuation provision; Prior-order recognition; Acceptance and docketing.

The $80 receiving-court fee: where a guardian has already been appointed and qualified, the new provision sets an $80 fee payable to the receiving clerk for filing the transferred case, with no part sent to the state. That clerk may not assess another filing fee for filing and docketing that transfer. This is not an $80 ceiling on all court costs, attorney fees or costs accrued in the sending court. HB16 delayed this section’s effective date to January 1, 2026. The $45 amount in SB1760’s earlier versions was a proposal, not the enacted fee. Final law, section 5; Second-special-session HB16, section 9.22.

Bond deposits: a guardian of the estate may now deposit the guardian’s own court-acceptable cash or securities into the court registry as an alternative to the existing eligible-financial-institution route, instead of sureties or to reduce the bond amount. The act adds receipt and bond-form requirements; the bond and applicable receipt are filed after judicial approval. Existing court-order controls on changing or releasing deposits remain. This does not authorize substituting the ward’s money for the guardian’s own security. Final law, section 6; Existing deposit safeguards.

New personal-guardian notices: the guardian must notify the court as soon as practicable when the ward dies or is admitted to a medical facility for acute care for three or more days. A ward’s residence/address change, or a change in the guardian’s residence, address, telephone number or other court-contact information, must be reported within 30 days. The existing conditional power to sign employment documents is retained and renumbered, not newly granted to every guardian. Final law, section 7; Prior personal-guardian duties.

Family allowances and annual accounts: the law replaces the broad “spouse or dependent” wording for court-approved education and maintenance allowances with spouse, minor children or incapacitated adult children. The court still considers family circumstances, support obligations, estate size, trusts and the estate plan; the applicant must file copies of notices and delivery receipts. An allowance requires a court application and order and remains subject to the existing minor-ward safeguards. Annual estate accounts now expressly recognize receipts, invoices or proof of payment as vouchers, require official bank/depository statements covering the accounting-period end, and require sale documents for personal property sold during the period, alongside the existing deposit letters and asset proof. Final law, sections 8–10; Minor-ward safeguard; Prior allowance and notice rules.

Resignation, final settlement and temporary guardianship: after the required hearing, approved final account/report and compliance with court orders, a resignation order must expressly cancel the guardian’s letters—the documents evidencing authority—and discharge and release applicable bond sureties. Estate-closing orders also expressly cancel the estate guardian’s letters. The estate guardian must file a sworn affidavit, or counsel a signed certificate, identifying citation recipients, service methods and waivers, and confirming delivery of the final account to entitled people whose whereabouts are known or reasonably ascertainable. Temporary-guardianship citation must be personally served on the proposed ward and a proposed temporary guardian who is not the applicant; notice to the ward’s appointed attorney remains required. Final law, sections 11–15.

Transition and amendments: generally the changes apply to guardianships created before, on or after September 1, 2025. Transfer-procedure changes apply to applications or motions filed/made on or after that date; the new fee section is separately delayed as noted above. Allowance and temporary-guardianship changes apply to applications filed on or after September 1; annual-account changes cover proceedings pending or begun on or after that date. Earlier versions were substantively unchanged through the House committee. On May 27, Thompson’s adopted amendment changed the proposed fee from $45 to $80; Hayes’s adopted amendment added the annual-account documents and their transition provision. Both survived Senate concurrence May 30 and enrollment. Introduced; Senate committee; Senate-passed; House committee; Thompson amendment; Hayes amendment; Version index; Amendment index; Final law, sections 17–19; Second-special-session HB16, section 9.22.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

People under guardianship and interested family members may benefit from better court notice, more complete accounts and clearer documentation when authority ends. Guardians and clerks have added reporting and record-handling duties. The specified receiving-court fee provides predictability for qualifying transfers, but the act does not establish a uniform saving compared with every prior county practice. The narrowed allowance categories matter to adult dependents who are not incapacitated. Final law.

The April 8 introduced, May 2 Senate-passed and May 29 post-House fiscal notes anticipate no significant state or local-government fiscal impact, assuming costs can be absorbed within existing resources. They do not quantify private legal costs, individual estate savings or the effect of every transfer fee. The bill makes no appropriation. Introduced fiscal note; Senate-passed fiscal note; Post-House fiscal note; Enrolled-linked fiscal note.