CHAPTER 236

H.P. 947 - L.D. 1275

An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Improvident Transfers

of Title

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 33 MRSA §1022, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 699, §1, is amended to read:

§1022. Undue influence

1. Presumption. In any transfer of real estate or major transfer of personal property or money for less than full consideration or execution of a guaranty by an elderly person who is dependent on others to a person with whom the elderly dependent person has a confidential or fiduciary relationship, it shall be is presumed that the transfer or execution was the result of undue influence, unless the elderly dependent person was represented in the transfer or execution by independent counsel. When the elderly dependent person successfully raises the presumption of undue influence by a preponderance of the evidence and when the transferee or person who benefits from the execution of a guaranty fails to rebut the presumption, the elderly dependent person shall be is entitled to avoid the transfer or execution and be entitled to the relief set forth in section 1024.

2. Confidential or fiduciary relationship. For the purpose of this section, the transfer of property or execution of a guaranty is deemed to have been made in the context of a confidential or fiduciary relationship if the transferee or person who benefits from the execution of a guaranty had a close