Oklahoma Service Contract Provider Bond

11/11/2011

The combination of these bills would revise the regulatory scheme for home service contracts, requiring the service contract provider to meet certain financial requirements. This includes posting a surety bond or other security. The bond that needs to be posted cannot be for less than 5% of the gross premium received, less claims paid, on the sale of the service contract for all service contracts issued and in force in the state. The bond amount can not be less than $25,000 and a funded reserve account would be required in addition to the bond. Instead of posting the bond or having a funded reserve account the service contract provider could maintain a net worth or stockholder’s equity of $25 million, either on its own or together with its parent company

Abandoned Property Bond in Oklahoma

11/10/2011

Any property that has not been legally occupied for at least 12 months and is in need of rehabilitation will be in line for new procedures produced by this bill to deal with those properties. If complaints arise against the maintenance of the abandoned properties the owners can then submit a plan of rehabilitation. Or the owners may post a surety bond for an amount equal to 125% of the costs of rehabilitating the property.

Recent Surety Bond requirements under the Uniform Trust Act

03/20/2009

The Uniform Trust Code (UTC) was created by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in order to create a uniform code for common law principles pertaining to trusts for all fifty states (i.e. for commericial transactions, as well as family estate planning). To better understand how a Uniform Trust works, I will briefly define the three parties involved with the creation and administrative duties. The person who created the trust is the “grantor” (or “settler”). The person who agrees to manage and oversee the trust and all of its assets is known as the “trustee”. Lastly, the person that is slated to receive the benefits of a trust is referred to as the “beneficiary”.

Thus far, 20 states have adopted the UTC in some form, and have begun to executed its laws. In 2008, the UTC was introduced in a number of states as well. Under these recent bills, trustees are only required to obtain a surety bond to guarantee the performance of their duties when the court deems such a bond necessary to protect the beneficiaries interests. A surety bond may also be needed if outlined in the terms of the trust, and court has not done away with the requirement.