STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2100

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2799

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2799 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO UNIFORM REAL PROPERTY TRANSFER ON DEATH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to allow an owner of real property to, upon the owner's death, pass the property directly to a beneficiary by means of a transfer on death deed.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Commission to Promote Uniform Legislation.  Testimony with comments on this measure was received from the Judiciary.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee finds that this measure will allow a decedent's beneficiary to avoid a costly and lengthy probate process through the use of a transfer on death deed.  Your Committee finds that a property owner who executes a transfer on death deed retains control of the property during the owner's lifetime, including the power to transfer or encumber the property and to revoke the deed.  Your Committee further finds that the beneficiary of a transfer on death deed is protected during the owner's lifetime because the deed does not convey any immediate interest in the property to the beneficiary during the owner's lifetime.  Therefore, the property is not subject to partition or to seizure by the beneficiary's creditors and the property does not adversely affect the beneficiary's eligibility for public benefits, including Medicaid.  Your Committee finds that transfer on death deeds are a valuable estate planning tool, especially for middle-income individuals whose primary or only asset is real property and who seek a simple means of transferring that asset to an heir without the need for a costly and time-consuming probate process. 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making nonsubstantive technical changes to its language for the purposes of clarity and accuracy.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2799, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2799, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair