Illinois recently enacted the “Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act” (2010 Ill. Legis. Serv. P.A. 96-1513), which extends to civil unions “the obligations, responsibilities, protections, and benefits afforded or recognized by the law of Illinois to spouses.” (Ibid. §5)
Under such law, civil unions will be entitled to the same concurrent ownership interests in freehold estates (e.g. tenancy by the entirety or community property) as spouses are. It therefore becomes imperative for a mortgagee to have all parties who have such interests in the same property sign the deed of trust or mortgage, in order for the mortgagee to foreclose upon both party’s interests, in case of default.
Due to this, as well as similar laws in Nevada and Oregon (Nev. Rev. Stat. §122A.200; Or. Rev. Stat. §106.340), DocuTech’s “Addendum to the Loan Application” (Cx13441), which requires the borrower to indicate whether another person can claim an interest in the property being secured by a mortgage, will print in these three states.
This change will take effect on Friday, September 16th, 2011.