Illinois Code § 1

§ 1.

(a) The General Assembly finds: (1) For a number of years, the State of Illinois has recognized a real estate trust commonly known as a "land trust"; (2) This legislature has recognized the existence of land trusts and provided for disclosure to appropriate parties of the owners of the beneficial interests of said land trusts; (3) Disclosure was required by this legislature in particular instances because the legislature recognized that the direction and control of the real estate was in the hands of the beneficiaries because the trustee acted solely as holder of the legal title and was subject at all times to the direction and control of the beneficiaries; (4) Because the beneficiaries of land trusts retain the power of direction and control of the trust property, such beneficiaries will frequently select a financial institution as trustee simply because that institution will be asked by the beneficiaries to extend credit to the trust or to the beneficiaries secured by their interest in the trust; (5) Recently, this accepted practice of a creditor lending money to itself as trustee or to the beneficiaries upon the security of an interest in the land trust of which it is trustee, has been scrutinized by the Illinois Supreme Court. (b) It is the purpose of this Act to codify the accepted practice of a creditor lending to the trustee of a land trust or the beneficiaries thereof upon the security of trust property or their interest in the trust, even though the creditor and the trustee are the same, and to foster and encourage the availability of financing for owners and developers of real estate. (Source: P.A. 82-891.)