WILL DEPOSITORY-CIRCUIT CLERK
Summary
Amends the Clerks of Court Act. Authorizes a circuit court clerk of any county to develop and maintain a will depository. Provides a procedure for the clerk to accept for safekeeping a testamentary instrument executed in compliance with the Probate Act of 1975, including a will, codicil, trust, or trust and one or more trust amendments. Allows a depositor to deposit a will with the clerk if the depositor certifies in writing that the depositor is unable to locate the testator after a diligent search. Creates a procedure for the clerk to follow in accepting, keeping, and returning these documents. Allows the clerk to charge a fee of $25 for each will deposited, and the clerk may not collect a separate fee for additional documents concurrently deposited in relation to a single testator or for a single joint will prepared for a husband and wife.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Apr 2026
Committee Review
May 2026
Senate Passage
May 2026
House Passage
May 2026
Signed into Law
Jul 2026
Introduced Apr 14, 2026
Signed Jul 31, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons
What changed between versions
Engrossed
→
Enrolled
·
2 edits
·
Jul 31, 2026
MINOR
The bill underwent minor formatting adjustments and text cleanup between its Engrossed and Enrolled versions. These changes involve removing extra spaces and correcting alignment in the definitions of 'Certified death certificate', 'Depositor', and the requirements for receipts, without altering the substantive legal rules or policy.
TECHNICAL
Removed unnecessary extra spaces and adjusted text alignment in the definitions of 'Certified death certificate' and 'Depositor'.
Corrected spacing in the list of required information on receipts, specifically around the names of executors and document descriptions.
Floor votes · Senate Apr 14, 2026 · House May 22, 2026
How they voted
54–0
Passed · 4 other
Total votes 58
Apr 14, 2026
D
Democratic39
89% Yea
R
Republican19
100% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
79
Key actions
7
Committee
7
Amendments
4
Jul 31, 2026
Signed into law
Governor Approved
upper
May 22, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed Both Houses
upper
May 22, 2026
Lower · Passed
Third Reading - Short Debate - Passed 099-000-000
lower
May 6, 2026
Lower · Passed
Do Pass / Short Debate Judiciary - Civil Committee; 018-000-000
lower
Apr 27, 2026
Committee
Assigned to Judiciary - Civil Committee
lower
Apr 14, 2026
Committee
Referred to Rules Committee
lower
Apr 14, 2026
Introduced
Arrived in House
lower
Apr 14, 2026
Upper · Passed
Third Reading - Passed; 055-000-000
upper
Mar 26, 2026
Upper · Passed
Senate Floor Amendment No. 1 Adopted; Cunningham
upper
Mar 25, 2026
Introduced
Senate Floor Amendment No. 1 Recommend Do Adopt Judiciary; 008-000-000
upper
Mar 25, 2026
Introduced
Senate Floor Amendment No. 1 Assignments Refers to Judiciary
upper
Mar 24, 2026
Committee
Senate Floor Amendment No. 1 Referred to Assignments
upper
Mar 24, 2026
Introduced
Senate Floor Amendment No. 1 Filed with Secretary by Sen. Bill Cunningham
upper
Mar 5, 2026
Upper · Passed
Do Pass Judiciary; 009-000-000
upper
Feb 17, 2026
Committee
Assigned to Judiciary
upper
Feb 3, 2026
Committee
Referred to Assignments
upper
2 primary · 41 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Bill Cunningham
DDemocratic
P
LJ
Lilian Jiménez
DDemocratic
Co
Abdelnasser Rashid
DDemocratic
Co
Andrew Chesney
RRepublican
Co
Barbara Hernandez
DDemocratic
Co
Bob Morgan
DDemocratic
Co
Camille Lilly
DDemocratic
Co
Chris Welch
DDemocratic
Co
Christopher Belt
DDemocratic
Co
Cristina Castro
DDemocratic
Co
Debbie Meyers-Martin
DDemocratic
Co
Dee Avelar
DDemocratic
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