Probate: notice of death for child support obligations.

The bill text was reformatted from the official enrolled document layout (with page numbers, secretary and clerk signature lines, and chapter heading) to the legislature website's display format. No changes to the legal substance of Section 9202(e) regarding child support notice requirements.

The entire provision amending Civil Code Section 815.1 (conservation easement definition) was deleted from the bill, removing a nonsubstantive definitional change that had been bundled with the probate notice amendment.

A new subdivision (e)(4) was added stating that when the notice concerns a child of the decedent who is an heir or beneficiary and is a child support obligor, the provision does not alter, limit, or affect the manner or timeframe for a local child support agency to pursue collection under any other law.

The standard for when a personal representative must notify the Department of Child Support Services was tightened from 'knows or has reason to believe' to 'has actual knowledge,' making it harder to trigger the notification obligation.

The effective date for the child support notice requirement was pushed back one year, from estates with letters issued on or after January 1, 2026, to estates with letters issued on or after January 1, 2027.

The fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the bill now requires fiscal committee review, likely due to the expanded scope of the child support provision.

Entirely new Section 1 amending Probate Code Section 9202 was added, expanding the bill from a single nonsubstantive Civil Code fix to a substantive probate procedure change affecting how estates must notify the Department of Child Support Services of a decedent's death.

The notice requirement now also applies when a child of the decedent who is an heir or beneficiary of the estate has a child support obligation under a court order, not just when the decedent themselves had one.

The knowledge standard for triggering the child support notice requirement was changed from 'knows or has reason to believe' to 'has actual knowledge,' making it harder to trigger the obligation.

A new provision explicitly states that the bill does not impose a duty on a personal representative or estate attorney to investigate whether a decedent or a child of the decedent is subject to a child support order.

The language for local child support agencies was changed from 'may assert a claim' to 'may pursue collection,' broadening the available remedies beyond just filing a claim against the estate.

The effective date for the child support notice provision was pushed back from January 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027, giving one additional year before the new rules take effect.

The fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the amended bill now carries a state fiscal impact that was not present in the introduced version.