In the latest ISBA Elder Law newsletter, Peoria lawyer Susan Dawson-Tibbits describes two laws important to elder law practitioners, both of which take effect Jan. 1. The Banking Convenience Account for Depositors Act creates the "convenience account," which allows a designee to make deposits into an account without being a joint owner of it. That way, an elderly parent can permit his son or daughter to pay bills and the like without giving the child a bigger stake in the account than the parent intended. Another new statute, the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act, fills a gap in the law. "Obtaining a guardianship over a disabled adult sometimes involves complex jurisdictional issues, as a disabled person may have connections with more than one state, own property in a state other than the state of residence, or may wish to reside in a different state after a guardianship has been imposed," Tibbits writes. Current law doesn't address those jurisdictional issues; the new Act does. Find out more about both laws.