JANUARY 2025 | 43 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL assets. The 2022 amendments also update terminology to account for digital records, electronic signatures and distributed ledger technology; provide rules for electronic negotiable instruments; and clarify the rules for the UCC applicability to hybrid transactions involving both goods and services. UNIFORM UNREGULATED CHILD CUSTODY TRANSFER ACT In some cases, parents find that after the birth or adoption of their child, they experience considerable difficulty or even inability to care for or effectively manage the child’s behavior, which sometimes leads to families transferring a child to another person outside of the courts and the child welfare system. Without specific regulations directed at these types of unregulated transfers, a transfer of custody might go unnoticed within the child welfare system. The Uniform Unregulated Child Custody Transfer Act7 addresses the transfer of children in these types of cases. CONCLUSION For more than a century, the ULC has helped secure uniformity of state law in legal areas where conflicting laws would obstruct the interests of United States citizens. These laws – such as the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act – cover business transactions, trusts, probate, real property family matters and many more. More than 300 ULC acts have been promulgated by the ULC and enacted across the country. Businesses and individuals benefit from the consistency and certainty ULC acts bring across the nation. States that enact ULC acts keep their commercial laws uniform and current. Family law is continuously improved, conflict between state laws is reduced, and the role and authority of state legislatures and state laws is defended by the ULC. Put simply, each and every day, a ULC act affects citizens in every state. Working together with other uniform law commissioners through the ULC, Oklahoma joins with every other state to produce the impressive body of laws known as the “Uniform State Laws.” Information on these recently approved acts, as well as all current uniform acts, can be found on the ULC website at www.uniformlaws.org. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Judge Thad Balkman was appointed district judge for the 21st Judicial District (Cleveland County) in 2013. Judge Balkman currently serves as presiding judge of the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary, Trial Division, and chairman of the Rules of Professional Responsibility Committee. He has served as president of the Oklahoma Judges Association since 2018, and he is the past president of the Oklahoma Judicial Conference. He is also a member of the Uniform Law Commission. ENDNOTES 1. Approved by the ULC in 2017, HB3962 of 2024; Okla. Stat. tit. 60 §§1201-1217. 2. Approved by the ULC in 2022, SB468 of 2024; Okla. Stat. tit. 84 §§901-927. 3. Approved by the ULC in 2019, Okla. Stat. tit. 12A §§15-101 - 15-120. 4. Approved by the ULC in 2015, HB3778 of 2024; Okla. Stat. tit. 58 §§3101-3119. 5. Approved by the ULC in 2023, SB1819 of 2024; Okla. Stat. tit. 6 §§910-910.14. 6. Approved by the ULC in 2022, HB 2776 of 2024; Okla. Stat. tit. 12A §12A-A-101. 7. Approved by the ULC in 2021, SB1601 of 2024; Okla. Stat. tit. 43 §§561-101–561-402. Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff. Willingness is the key. Recovery is available for everyone. The trouble is that it’s not for all who need it, but rather for those who want it. – Clif Gooding, OBA Member www.okbar.org/LHL Free Confidential Assistance Call 800-364-7886 for a free counselor referral. If you are in crisis or need immediate assistance, call or text 988.
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