ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers Senate Bill 2894 (Probate fees), Senate Bill 2569 (Child support and dissipaation of assets), House Bill 4081 (One-party consent wiretapping), Senate Bill 3792 (Mechanics Lien Act) and Senate Bill 3823 (Sanctions for visitation violations). More information on each bill is available below the video.

Probate fees. Senate Bill 2894 (Silverstein, D-Chicago) and House Bill 4985 require that the Illinois State Guardian to be appointed over the various county public guardians if the current county public guardian's term has expired or upon expiration of the current county public guardian's term. It also creates a set of fees to be imposed against probate litigants to fund the State Guardian. Examples of these fees are to open an estate ($50), file an account ($25), and file a proof of claim ($100).

Child support and dissipation of assets. Senate Bill 2569 (Mulroe, D-Chicago; Soto, D-Chicago) amends the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act to require notice and impose time limits before a litigant can claim dissipation of marital and non-marital assets and clarifies the child support section of the Act by codifying existing practice and case law. It creates a three-step procedure as follows for dissipation claims: (1) Notice of intent to claim dissipation must be filed no later than 60 days before trial or 30 days after discovery closes, whichever is later; (2) Notice must identify the property dissipated, a time frame of when the marriage began to break down, and when the dissipation occurred; and (3) Notice must be filed with the clerk of the court and served under applicable rules. No dissipation may be considered if it occurred five years before filing of dissolution of marriage if the spouse had no knowledge of the dissipation, or three years after the party claiming dissipation knew, or should have known, of the dissipation. It also codifies existing practice and case law by clarifying that the court may order both parties to contribute to expenses for child-care, school, extracurricular activities, and health expenses not covered by health insurance in addition to statutory child support.

One-party consent wiretapping. House Bill 4081 (Gordon, D-Peoria; Haine, D-Alton) amends the Illinois Eavesdropping Act to allow police eavesdropping if there is (1) one-party consent from an officer or confidential informant, (2) approval from a state’s attorney, and (3) reasonable suspicion of a drug deal within 24 hours. No prior judicial approval is needed. The conversations heard or recorded would be admissible to prosecute a drug crime, or forcible felony in the course of a drug crime. There is a 2015 sunset.

Mechanics Lien Act. Senate Bill 3792 (Althoff, R-Crystal Lake; Tyron, R-Crystal Lake) requires work to be done or materials furnished within three years for residential property and five years for any other kind of property. Senate Bill 3792 is to repeal January 1, 2016, and the limitation reverts to three years for all property at that time.

Sanctions for visitation violations. Senate Bill 3823 (Sullivan, D-Rushville; Howard, D-Chicago) authorizes a judge to impose sanctions for visitation abuse similar to those that may be imposed for failing to pay child support, such as suspension of an offender’s driver’s license. It passed out of House Judiciary Committee this week and is awaiting final passage in the House.