Full Text of SB2948 97th General Assembly
SB2948eng 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning civil law.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Safety Deposit Box Opening Act is amended by | 5 | | changing Section 1 and by adding Section 5 as follows:
| 6 | | (755 ILCS 15/1) (from Ch. 17, par. 1501)
| 7 | | Sec. 1.
Upon being furnished with satisfactory proof of | 8 | | death of a
sole lessee or the last surviving co-lessee of a | 9 | | safe deposit box, the lessor
shall open the box and examine the | 10 | | contents in the presence of a person
who presents himself and | 11 | | furnishes an affidavit which states that (a) he
is interested | 12 | | in the filing of the lessee's will or in the arrangements
for | 13 | | his burial, (b) he believes the box may contain the will or | 14 | | burial documents
of the lessee and (c) he is an interested | 15 | | person within the meaning of this
Act. The lessor shall not | 16 | | open the box in accordance with this Act if the
lessor has | 17 | | received a copy of letters of office of the representative of
| 18 | | the deceased lessee's estate or other applicable court order. | 19 | | The lessor
need not open the box if (a) the box has previously | 20 | | been opened in accordance
with this Act, (b) the lessor has | 21 | | received notice of a written or oral objection
from any person | 22 | | or has reason to believe that there would be an objection,
or | 23 | | (c) the lessee's key or combination is not available.
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| 1 | | For purposes of this Section Act , the term "interested | 2 | | person" means any person
who immediately prior to the death of | 3 | | the lessee had the right of access
to the box as a deputy, any | 4 | | person named as executor in a copy furnished
by him of a | 5 | | purported will of the lessee, or the spouse, an adult | 6 | | descendant,
parent, brother or sister of the lessee. If the | 7 | | affidavit states that none
of the persons described above is | 8 | | available to be present at the opening
of the box, the term | 9 | | "interested person" also means any other person who
the lessor | 10 | | in its sole discretion determines may have a legitimate | 11 | | interest
in the filing of the lessee's will or in the | 12 | | arrangements for his burial.
| 13 | | For purposes of this Section, the The lessor shall remove | 14 | | any document which appears to be a will or codicil
and deliver | 15 | | it to the clerk of the circuit court for the county in which
| 16 | | the lessee resided immediately prior to his or her death, if | 17 | | known to the
lessor, otherwise to the clerk of the
circuit | 18 | | court for the county in which the safe deposit box is located.
| 19 | | Delivery of a will or codicil called for herein may be made by | 20 | | registered
mail sent to the clerk of the said court.
The lessor | 21 | | may remove any burial documents and deliver them to the | 22 | | interested
person. No other contents may be removed pursuant to | 23 | | this Section Act .
| 24 | | The lessor is not required to look into the truth of any | 25 | | statement in the
affidavit required to be furnished under | 26 | | section one of this Section Act . The lessor's
determination of |
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| 1 | | the fact situations to be met under this Section act shall be | 2 | | conclusive
and final. The lessor shall be fully protected in | 3 | | relying conclusively on it.
| 4 | | (Source: P.A. 83-642.)
| 5 | | (755 ILCS 15/5 new) | 6 | | Sec. 5. Public administrator; opening safety deposit box. | 7 | | (a) In cases involving a public administrator in this | 8 | | State, in which the public administrator has yet to determine | 9 | | in his official capacity whether administration of the lessee's | 10 | | estate is warranted under this Act the public administrator | 11 | | shall execute and furnish to the lessor an affidavit stating: | 12 | | (1) The public administrator, in his official capacity, is | 13 | | conducting a preliminary investigation and inventory of the | 14 | | decedent lessee's estate; (2) The public administrator, as of | 15 | | the date of the affidavit, has not yet been able to obtain | 16 | | sufficient assets and estate information to warrant the | 17 | | representation and administration of the decedent lessee's | 18 | | estate; and (3) The public administrator reasonably believes | 19 | | that the decedent lessee's safety deposit box may contain such | 20 | | assets and estate information which may provide sufficient | 21 | | grounds for the administration of the estate. Upon receipt of | 22 | | the public administrator's affidavit, the lessor shall open the | 23 | | lessee's box and shall permit the public administrator, in the | 24 | | presence of the lessor, to examine and catalogue the contents | 25 | | of the box. During the course of the examination, the public |
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| 1 | | administrator will not be able to remove any contents from the | 2 | | box, without first presenting to the lessor a copy of letters | 3 | | of office issued to him in representation of the lessee's | 4 | | estate. | 5 | | (b) In cases involving a public administrator in this | 6 | | State, in which the public administrator has been issued | 7 | | letters of office, the public administrator shall provide a | 8 | | copy of such letters of office to the lessor and the lessor | 9 | | shall, upon receipt of such copy from the public administrator, | 10 | | open the lessee's box for examination of its contents by the | 11 | | public administrator. The public administrator shall be | 12 | | permitted to remove any such items in the box he properly deems | 13 | | to be an asset of value of the estate which need to be secured | 14 | | and held by the public administrator in his official duties as | 15 | | the administrator of the lessee's estate. For purposes of this | 16 | | Section, the lessor shall open the box for such public | 17 | | administrator who presents an affidavit in accordance with the | 18 | | provisions of this Section regardless of whether the decedent | 19 | | lessee's key or combination is available. | 20 | | (c) A lessor who provides access to a safety deposit box | 21 | | pursuant to this Section shall not be liable to any person as a | 22 | | result of the lessor's actions in compliance with this Section.
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