O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 24-97—sSB 324
Judiciary Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING PR OBATE COURT OPERATIO NS AND
ADMINISTRATION
SUMMARY: This act makes changes in laws governing probate court operations
and related matters.
It prohibits using remote notarization to execute an agreement to divide a testate
estate (i.e., an estate under a will). Existing law already prohibits using remote
notarization for agreements to divide an intestate estate (i.e., estates without a will)
(§ 1).
The act extends to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut
Healthcare System the same requirements that apply under existing law to state
agencies for paying probate court fees. Under this law, if a state agency files a
probate court matter or is otherwise liable for probate fees or expenses, the court
must accept the matter without the filing fee and bill the agency for later payment,
with the bill due upon receipt (§ 2).
The act changes certain notice requirements for involuntary proceedings under
the state’s Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), including setting different
requirements for probate court and Superior Court cases and making minor changes
to related provisions (for cases in either court) (§ 3).
The act specifies the procedures to notify the non-petitioning spouse of an
involuntary conservatorship petition if the spouse is out-of-state, cannot be located,
or cannot be served in the state. It also requires notice to be sent by certified mail
to specified other family members if the spouse’s location is unknown in certain
cases involving elderly persons (§ 4).
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2024
§ 3 — NOTICES UNDER INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT
PA 23-113 generally codified into state law the federal ICWA, which governs
jurisdiction over American Indian children’s removal from their families in
custody, foster care, and adoption cases. That act gives exclusive jurisdiction to
Indian tribes over certain proceedings involving Indian children and preferred
jurisdiction in some others.
Under prior law, for involuntary proceedings in state court (either probate court
or Superior Court), the party seeking the foster care placement of, or termination of
parental rights (TPR) to, an Indian child had to notify the parent or Indian custodian
and the child’s tribe about the pending proceedings and their right to intervene. This
act sets different notice requirements for probate court cases (specifically, those in
which a party is seeking an adoption or TPR), primarily by requiring the court,
rather than the petitioning party, to send required notices, and makes a few changes O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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to the underlying requirements for cases in either court. Principally, the act does the
following:
1. specifically requires the probate court to notify the parent, and the notice to
include the Indian custodian’s or tribe’s right to intervene, under existing
notice procedures (outside of the ICWA) on TPR hearings (see
BACKGROUND);
2. requires the probate court to notify the Indian custodian and tribe by
registered or certified mail, return receipt requested;
3. for Superior Court cases, allows the notice (to the parent, custodian, or tribe)
to be sent by certified mail, in addition to registered mail as under existing
law;
4. in probate court cases where the person’s and tribe’s identity or location
cannot be determined, requires the probate court to send the required notices
to certain officials; and
5. for both Superior and probate court, where the person’s and tribe’s identity
or location cannot be determined, allows the notice (for children from
federally recognized tribes) to be sent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Regional Director instead of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and makes a
conforming change.
§ 4 — INVOLUNTARY CON SERVATORSHIP NOTICES
By law, the probate court may appoint a conservator of the person or a
conservator of the estate, or both, after finding that a person (“the respondent”) is
incapable of managing his or her affairs or caring for himself or herself.
If someone other than the respondent’s spouse files a petition to appoint an
involuntary conservator, existing law requires the spouse (in addition to the
respondent) to receive personal (i.e., in-hand) service about the hearing. The act
specifies the required notice process if (1) the spouse is out of state, (2) his or her
address is unknown, or (3) personal service or service at the spouse’s usual
residence cannot reasonably be done in the state. In these cases, the judge or court
clerk must order the notice to be sent by registered or certified mail, return receipt
requested, or by newspaper publication at least 10 days before the hearing. If the
latter, the notice must be in a newspaper of general circulation in the area of the
person’s last known address (in Connecticut or elsewhere), or in the place where
the petition was filed if that address is unknown.
For all involuntary conservatorship cases, the court must order notice, as it
directs, to the respondent’s other relatives, as follows: the children; if none, the
parents; if none, the siblings or their representatives; or if none, the next of kin. But
existing law requires this notice to be sent by certified mail if the respondent is
unmarried and the conservatorship application was brought by the Department of
Social Services (DSS) commissioner for an elderly person who is being abused,
neglected, exploited, or abandoned and lacks the capacity to consent to protective
services. For these cases brought by DSS, the act also requires the notices to
relatives to be sent by certified mail if the respondent’s spouse cannot be located.
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BACKGROUND
Notice of TPR Hearings
By law, at least 10 days before a hearing on a TPR petition, notice generally
must be served on the (1) parents, and in some cases, other people (e.g., the child if
age 12 or older), by personal service or service at the person’s usual residence
(different requirements apply if the address is unknown or out of state) and (2)
Department of Children and Families commissioner and attorney general by first
class mail (CGS § 45a-716).