CHAPTER 189
FORMERLY
SENATE BILL NO. 170
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 12 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DECEDENT'S ESTATES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE :
Section 1. Amend §2306,Title 12, Delaware Code, by adding a new subsection “(c)”, to read as follows:
“(c) The next of kin of a decedent shall have the right upon the death of the decedent, (1) to take possession of the decedent’s motor vehicle(s) and (2) to enter any premises for the sole and exclusive purpose of removing therefrom clothing belonging to the decedent to be used for the burial or viewing of the decedent. If no next of kin is available, a funeral director may have access to enter the premises for the aforementioned purpose of securing clothes only. The Register of Wills shall provide a form limited to facilitating action taken pursuant to this subsection. Such a form must be obtained prior to any person acting pursuant to this subsection.”
Section 2. Amend §2308, Title 12 of the Delaware Code, by deleting the phrase “$2,000”, as found at each location therein, and by substituting in lieu thereof, the phrase “$7,500” at each location.
Section 3. Amend §3538(a), Title 12, Delaware Code, by deleting the subsection and by substituting in lieu thereof the following:
“(a) When a will that has been probated before the Register of Wills for any of the counties of the State contains a bequest or devise in trust to pay the income arising from any part of the estate of the testator to or for the benefit of a person other than the person named as trustee, the Register of Wills before whom the probate is made shall, within 10 days after the closing of the estate, deliver to the Register in Chancery for that county a certificate setting forth the name and last address of the testator, the date of the probate of the testator’s will, the name and address of the trustee appointed thereby and the provisions of the will relating to said trust or trusts. This section shall apply only in those instances (1) where the documents closing the estate show a balance in the hands of the personal representative that can be distributed to the trust in order to fund it and (2) that terms exist, as stated in the will, for the creation of the trust. In those instances where it is clear that no notice of the trust need be given to the Register in Chancery, the Register of Wills shall note on its files that no notice of the trust was given to it and state why.”