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91_SB0465
LRB9100413WHprA
1 AN ACT to amend the Probate Act of 1975 by changing
2 Section 11-13.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Probate Act of 1975 is amended by
6 changing Section 11-13 as follows:
7 (755 ILCS 5/11-13) (from Ch. 110 1/2, par. 11-13)
8 Sec. 11-13. Duties of guardian of a minor. Before a
9 guardian of a minor may act, the guardian shall be appointed
10 by the court of the proper county and, in the case of a
11 guardian of the minor's estate, the guardian shall give the
12 bond prescribed in Section 12-2. Except as provided in
13 Section 11-13.1 and Section 11-13.2 with respect to the
14 standby or short-term guardian of the person of a minor, the
15 court shall have control over the person and estate of the
16 ward. Under the direction of the court:
17 (a) The guardian of the person shall have the custody,
18 nurture and tuition and shall provide education of the ward
19 and of his children, but the ward's spouse may not be
20 deprived of the custody and education of the spouse's
21 children, without consent of the spouse, unless the court
22 finds that the spouse is not a fit and competent person to
23 have such custody and education. If the ward's estate is
24 insufficient to provide for the ward's education and the
25 guardian of his person fails to provide education, the court
26 may award the custody of the ward to some other person for
27 the purpose of providing education. If a person makes a
28 settlement upon or provision for the support or education of
29 a ward and if either parent of the ward is dead, the court
30 may make such order for the visitation of the ward by the
31 person making the settlement or provision as the court deems
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1 proper.
2 (b) The guardian or other representative of the ward's
3 estate shall have the care, management and investment of the
4 estate, shall manage the estate frugally and shall apply the
5 income and principal of the estate so far as necessary for
6 the comfort and suitable support and education of the ward,
7 his children, and persons related by blood or marriage who
8 are dependent upon or entitled to support from him, or for
9 any other purpose which the court deems to be for the best
10 interests of the ward, and the court may approve the making
11 on behalf of the ward of such agreements as the court
12 determines to be for the ward's best interests. The
13 representative may make disbursement of his ward's funds and
14 estate directly to the ward or other distributee or in such
15 other manner and in such amounts as the court directs. If
16 the estate of a ward is derived in whole or in part from
17 payments of compensation, adjusted compensation, pension,
18 insurance or other similar benefits made directly to the
19 estate by the Veterans Administration, notice of the
20 application for leave to invest or expend the ward's funds or
21 estate, together with a copy of the petition and proposed
22 order, shall be given to the Veterans' Administration
23 Regional Office in this State at least 7 days before the
24 hearing on the application. The court, upon petition of a
25 guardian of the estate of a minor with a developmental
26 disability as defined in Section 11a-1, may permit the
27 guardian to make a will or create a revocable or irrevocable
28 trust for the minor that the court considers appropriate in
29 light of changes in applicable tax laws that allow for
30 minimization of State or federal income, estate, or
31 inheritance taxes; however, the will or trust must make
32 distributions only to the persons who would be entitled to
33 distributions if the minor were to die intestate and the will
34 or trust must make distributions to those persons in the
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1 same amounts to which they would be entitled if the minor
2 were to die intestate.
3 (c) Upon the direction of the court which issued his
4 letters a representative may perform the contracts of his
5 ward which were legally subsisting at the time of the
6 commencement of the guardianship. The court may authorize
7 the guardian to execute and deliver any bill of sale, deed or
8 other instrument.
9 (d) The representative of the estate of a ward shall
10 appear for and represent the ward in all legal proceedings
11 unless another person is appointed for that purpose as
12 representative or next friend. This does not impair the
13 power of any court to appoint a representative or next friend
14 to defend the interests of the ward in that court, or to
15 appoint or allow any person as the next friend of a ward to
16 commence, prosecute or defend any proceeding in his behalf.
17 Any proceeding on behalf of a minor may be commenced and
18 prosecuted by his next friend, without any previous authority
19 or appointment by the court if the next friend enters bond
20 for costs and files it in the court where the proceeding is
21 pending. Without impairing the power of the court in any
22 respect, if the representative of the estate of a minor and
23 another person as next friend shall appear for and represent
24 the minor in a legal proceeding in which the compensation of
25 the attorney or attorneys representing the guardian and next
26 friend is solely determined under a contingent fee
27 arrangement, the guardian of the estate of the minor shall
28 not participate in or have any duty to review the prosecution
29 of the action, to participate in or review the
30 appropriateness of any settlement of the action, or to
31 participate in or review any determination of the
32 appropriateness of any fees awarded to the attorney or
33 attorneys employed in the prosecution of the action.
34 (e) Upon petition by any interested person (including
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1 the standby or short-term guardian), with such notice to
2 interested persons as the court directs and a finding by the
3 court that it is in the best interest of the minor, the court
4 may terminate or limit the authority of a standby or
5 short-term guardian or may enter such other orders as the
6 court deems necessary to provide for the best interest of the
7 minor. The petition for termination or limitation of the
8 authority of a standby or short-term guardian may, but need
9 not, be combined with a petition to have a guardian appointed
10 for the minor.
11 (Source: P.A. 90-345, eff. 8-8-97.)
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