WEBINAR: Uniform Law Updates by the Experts!
Online
Thursday, September 22, 2022
1:00 PM - 4:30 PM
iCalendar
Central Standard Time
Agenda:
1:00-2:00: Uniform Easement Relocation Act, John Lovett and Cliff McKinney,
2:15-3:15: Uniform Disposition of Community Property on Death Act, Ron Scalise and David English, and
3:30-4:30: 2022 Uniform Commercial Code Amendments, William Henning
The Uniform Easement Relocation Act provides a judicial remedy for situations where a burdened landowner desires to relocate a private utility easement. The Uniform Easement Relocation Act allows the owner of real estate burdened by an easement to obtain a court order to relocate the easement if the relocation does not materially impair the utility of the easement to the easement holder, or the physical condition, use, or value of the benefited property. The burdened property owner must file a civil action, give other potentially affected real-property interest owners notice, and bear all the costs of relocation. This act is included in the Arkansas Bar Association 2023 Bar Package and may soon become an option in Arkansas.
The Uniform Community Property Disposition Act (UCPDDA) is intended to replace Arkansas’s current 1971 version of this law. Community property acquired by a married couple retains its character as community property even when the couple relocates to reside in a non-community property state. This result creates potential distribution problems at the death of the first spouse and also creates potential estate planning opportunities. However, a probate court or trustee in a non-community property state may not recognize the character of community property in a decedent's estate, which could lead to a misallocation of the decedent’s property, and potentially to disputes between a surviving spouse and the decedent’s other heirs. This act is an update of a 1971 act that applied only to probate proceedings. The UCPDDA also addresses non-probate transfers of community property and provides clear default rules to ensure the proper disposition of community property from any estate, in any jurisdiction. This act is included in the Arkansas Bar Association 2023 Bar Package.
The 2022 amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code address emerging technologies, providing updated rules for commercial transactions involving virtual currencies, distributed ledger technologies (including blockchain), artificial intelligence, and other technological developments. The amendments span almost every article of the UCC and add a new Article 12 addressing certain types of digital assets defined as “Controllable Electronic Records” (CERs). The amendments provide new default rules to govern transactions involving these new technologies and clarify the UCC’s applicability to mixed transactions involving both goods and services. The amendments also contain some miscellaneous revisions unrelated to technological developments but providing needed clarification.