Indiana law addresses this problem directly. Under Indiana Code § 30-5-9-9, an institution that refuses to honor a valid Indiana power of attorney within three business days faces significant liability, including treble damages, attorney’s fees, and prejudgment interest. The statute gives agents real leverage, yet most families never learn about it until the rejection has already caused harm.

What Indiana Law Requires When an Institution Refuses a Power of Attorney

The post When Indiana Banks Reject a Valid Power of Attorney and What the Law Allows Agents to Do About It appeared first on Indiana Injury And Family Lawyer Blog.

Indiana’s Transfer on Death Property Act, codified at Indiana Code § 32-17-14-11, allows property owners to name a beneficiary who will receive real estate automatically at death. The deed is revocable during the owner’s lifetime, does not require delivery to the beneficiary, and does not give the beneficiary any present interest in the property. Those features make it attractive. They also make it easy to treat the deed as a standalone fix, when it really needs to work alongside every other piece of the plan.

How Title Type Determines Whether an Indiana Transfer-on-Death Deed Works at All

The post Indiana Transfer-on-Death Deeds and the Coordination Mistakes That Send Families to Probate appeared first on Indiana Injury And Family Lawyer Blog.

A February 9, 2026, Indiana Court of Appeals opinion is a useful example. The dispute involved a beneficiary seeking a statement of accounts and co-trustees asking a court to confirm that a surviving settlor could remove a piece of trust property after the other settlor’s death. The trial court granted summary judgment against the co-trustees. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded, focusing on how the trust language fit together and how the trust treated tenancy-by-the-entireties property.

The Trust Fight That Landed in Court

The post Indiana Trust Accounting Disputes and Trustee Recordkeeping Lessons from a Recent Court of Appeals Decision appeared first on Indiana Injury And Family Lawyer Blog.

What Senate Bill 71 Does in 2026

SB 71 is not a single-issue bill. The bill includes probate-related provisions and establishes a task force to revise the temporary guardianship code. The task force structure matters for Indiana families and practitioners, since guardianship filings often serve as a pressure valve when incapacity planning is missing or a power of attorney does not function in practice. The bill materials reflect that the guardianship task force is designed to study recodification and needed changes, then issue recommendations, rather than pushing a full rewrite through one bill cycle.

SB 71 also addresses how Indiana studies probate and trust issues going forward. The committee substitute language provides for repealing the Probate Code Study Committee and shifting the study function to the Interim Study Committee on Courts and the Judiciary in even-numbered years, with an express study mandate that reaches probate, trust code, and other statutes affecting estates, guardianship, probate jurisdiction, trusts, and fiduciary administration.

The Practical Point for Estate Planning in Northwest Indiana

A study committee change can sound procedural, yet it signals the pipeline for future amendments. When probate and trust topics move into an interim committee with broader court-and-judiciary responsibilities, practitioners should expect greater focus on administrative pain points that courts and clerks repeatedly encounter, including filing practices, guardianship reporting, and fiduciary oversight. Those topics tend to drive changes in how quickly families can access accounts, how guardianship orders are processed, and what documentation third parties, such as banks, title companies, and investment custodians, require.

Estate planning clients rarely care which committee studied a change. Clients care about whether a spouse can act during incapacity without a costly court process, whether a successor trustee can step in cleanly, and whether the plan reduces delay at death. Those goals are still met through fundamentals, yet the fundamentals work best when documents and funding choices anticipate the most common friction points.

Guardianship Reform Signals a Renewed Focus on Incapacity Planning

The guardianship code revision task force is a reminder that incapacity planning deserves as much attention as transfer-on-death planning. A well-drafted, durable power of attorney and health care planning set can keep a family out of court, yet in practice, families still end up in guardianship matters when a document is stale, incomplete, rejected by a financial institution, or deemed insufficient by a medical provider. SB 71’s task force structure suggests Indiana expects continued review of how guardianship should operate, including protections, reporting obligations, and procedural clarity.

For planning purposes, these points toward three disciplined habits. The first habit is confirming that the person named as agent is available, trustworthy, and capable, as the wrong choice increases the odds that a court proceeding will be necessary. The second habit is drafting powers that are specific enough to satisfy institutional compliance teams, since vague authority often leads to rejection and delay. The third habit is keeping the plan current, since an outdated power of attorney can still cause friction even when it is legally valid.

Probate and Trust Code Study Changes Affect Future Drafting Assumptions

SB 71’s shift in study responsibility does not change the text of every probate or trust rule today, yet it changes the forum that will propose the next wave of revisions. Practitioners should watch for recommendations addressing routine administration disputes, including fiduciary accounting expectations, notice requirements, bond questions, and clarity on nonprobate transfers that intersect with probate filings.

For clients, the drafting takeaway is less about predicting specific future statutory language and more about building plans that remain workable as procedures evolve. A trust that includes clear successor trustee provisions, flexible administrative powers, and a sensible approach to accountings often ages better than a document that is technically correct yet operationally vague. A will plan that coordinates with beneficiary designations and payable-on-death registrations often reduces the risk that procedural changes cause additional delay, since fewer assets require court administration in the first place.

What to Review in Your Current Plan Right Now

SB 71 should prompt a practical review rather than a panic rewrite. Many Indiana families have documents that remain valid, yet their plan may not function smoothly under modern institutional expectations and evolving court procedures. The review should focus on how the plan operates when someone is unavailable, when a bank asks for proof, and when the family needs authority quickly.

A focused review typically includes confirming that: the power of attorney language actually authorizes the actions the family will need; successor agents are named and are still appropriate; health care documents and HIPAA authorizations reflect current preferences; trust funding matches the intended probate-avoidance strategy; and the plan includes a workable approach for real estate, since property transfers often create the most delay in probate administration.

A review should also consider the risk of guardianship. A plan that leaves uncertainty about who should act, or that names an agent who cannot serve, increases the odds of court involvement at the worst possible time. If Indiana updates guardianship procedures after the task force work, families will still prefer to avoid guardianship when a better planning solution exists.

What These Developments Mean for Solo Practitioners and Their Clients

For a solo practice serving Northwest Indiana, the value in tracking SB 71 is practical rather than theoretical. Clients will ask why a financial institution wants different documentation than it wanted five years ago, why a guardianship filing includes new reporting steps, or why a trust administration process now requires more formal recordkeeping. Legislative updates that shape study priorities tend to translate into later procedural updates, and those updates are exactly what families experience as friction.

Attorney Burton Padove can help clients position their plans so they remain functional as the state refines the administration of probate and guardianship. That work usually involves tightening the operational details, confirming decision-makers, and aligning documents with how assets are held, rather than creating unnecessary layers.

Contact Attorney Burton Padove at Padove Law

If you want to review an existing estate plan in light of Indiana’s 2026 probate and guardianship developments, or you want a plan that reduces court involvement when possible, contact Attorney Burton Padove at Padove Law at (219) 836-2200.

The post Indiana 2026 Probate and Guardianship Changes That Estate Plans Should Anticipate appeared first on Indiana Injury And Family Lawyer Blog.

Local rules rarely change the underlying rights of heirs, beneficiaries, or fiduciaries. Procedure still shapes how quickly those rights become practical. A personal representative may have authority on paper, while a bank waits for letters issued in the precise format the clerk requires. A trustee may need court guidance, while the court expects filings to follow local filing sequence and formatting rules. Families who know what to expect at the county level tend to avoid avoidable setbacks.

Indiana Probate Court Local Rules

The post Indiana Probate Court Local Rules and Trust Administration Filing Details Families Miss appeared first on Indiana Injury And Family Lawyer Blog.

Trust ownership does not insulate property from local regulation, neighbor pressure, or county enforcement. Trustees still have to act within the trust’s authority while also meeting the rules that apply to the land itself.

Indiana Trust-Owned Real Estate Disputes

The post Trust-Owned Real Estate Disputes and Trustee Authority in Indiana appeared first on Indiana Injury And Family Lawyer Blog.

Institutions adopted these changes because attempted account takeovers increased nationwide. Fraudsters targeted accounts belonging to deceased customers, especially those tied to online banking platforms and mobile verification tools, which exposed gaps in older security practices. As a result, banks, credit unions, and fintech providers rolled out stronger identity checks before they release information or funds to anyone claiming authority over an account. Families now deal with a more structured, sometimes slower process when they settle a loved one’s affairs, which is one reason it helps to speak with an estate planning attorney who understands how these verification rules affect real-world administration.

Verification Standards Have Expanded Across Traditional Banks And Fintech Platforms

The post How Updated Bank Verification Rules Affect Estate Administration For Indiana Families In 2025 appeared first on Indiana Injury And Family Lawyer Blog.

These changes affect every family, but the impact becomes significant when the decedent created AI-generated content, operated multiple digital accounts, or held assets protected by multi-factor authentication. Understanding how digital estate audits work helps families plan and protect information that might otherwise become inaccessible during administration.

Digital Estate Audits Are Becoming Standard For Modern Administration

The post The Rising Trend Of Digital Estate Audits And How AI-Generated Assets Shape Inheritance appeared first on Indiana Injury And Family Lawyer Blog.

Key Updates In The 2025 Indiana Probate Amendments

The 2025 legislative session produced a series of changes under Indiana Code Title 29. Lawmakers aimed to align state law with current probate practices and improve the administration of supervised and unsupervised estates. The revisions address several areas that affect both personal representatives and beneficiaries.

The post Indiana Probate Code Updates And What They Mean For Your Will And Estate appeared first on Indiana Injury And Family Lawyer Blog.

Overview of The Stephan Estate Dispute

The Stephan family’s case began as a supervised estate proceeding in Indiana. Supervised administration means the court must approve significant steps taken by the personal representative, including asset transfers, distributions, and closing documents. Disagreement arose over how property should be handled and whether one family member overstepped their role. The appeal focused on the trial court’s oversight duties and the limits on an individual’s authority within a supervised estate.

The post Indiana Appeals Court Clarifies Duties In Supervised Estate Administration appeared first on Indiana Injury And Family Lawyer Blog.