Limited Time Offer. Become a Founder Member Now!

House passes probate bill correcting earlier drafting errors and clarifying harmless‑error rule

April 28, 2025 | House of Representatives, Committees, Legislative, Oregon


This article was created by AI summarizing key points discussed. AI makes mistakes, so for full details and context, please refer to the video of the full meeting. Please report any errors so we can fix them. Report an error »

House passes probate bill correcting earlier drafting errors and clarifying harmless‑error rule
The Oregon House passed Senate Bill 168 on final reading to make technical and substantive corrections to probate law and related procedural rules.

Representative Anderson presented the bill, saying it came from the Judiciary Committee at the request of the Oregon State Bar's planning and administration section. Anderson described four primary changes: restoring use of a simple‑estate affidavit where a decedent's will places assets into trust regardless of value; correcting a 2017 drafting error that hindered children of unmarried parents from proving parental status for intestate succession; clarifying ambiguities in Oregon's harmless‑error rule for wills; and applying ORCP 45 (request for admissions) to probate proceedings where specified.

The sponsor also said the bill specifies that certain writings and formalities must be present for documents to be treated as wills and clarifies that electronic documents may not be considered wills under the relevant provision. Following presentation and no floor debate, the clerk declared Senate Bill 168 passed after recording it had received the constitutional majority; the transcript does not show a roll‑call tally of individual votes.

The changes affect Oregon probate practice and civil‑procedure interplay in probate courts; the bill's text and effective dates should be consulted for implementation details.

View full meeting

This article is based on a recent meeting—watch the full video and explore the complete transcript for deeper insights into the discussion.

View full meeting

Sponsors

Proudly supported by sponsors who keep Oregon articles free in 2025

Scribe from Workplace AI
Scribe from Workplace AI