Nelson v. Long (In Re Long), 843 F.3d 871

Debtor Bobby Long was named beneficiary of his wife Donna Long’s $60,000 life insurance policy; Donna died July 22, 2014.
Long received the insurer’s $60,000 check on October 8, 2014, and deposited/cashed the funds in December 2014.
Long filed a Chapter 7 petition on November 4, 2014 (after receiving the check but before cashing it) and claimed an exemption for the $60,000 under Okla. Stat. tit. 36, § 3631.1(A).
The Chapter 7 Trustee objected, arguing the statute exempts only proceeds still held by insurers (i.e., not proceeds already paid to beneficiaries).
Bankruptcy court sustained Long’s exemption; district court affirmed. Trustee appealed to the Tenth Circuit.
The central statutory text: § 3631.1(A) exempts “All money or benefits of any kind, including policy proceeds and cash values, to be paid or rendered...,” and subparts (3) and (4) clarify exemptions “before or after said money or benefits is or are paid or rendered” and for “all demands in any bankruptcy proceeding.”

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Okla. Stat. tit. 36, § 3631.1(A) exempts life-insurance proceeds already paid to the beneficiary prior to bankruptcy	Long: statute applies to all policy proceeds whenever paid; no temporal limit	Trustee: the phrase “to be paid or rendered” limits exemption to proceeds not yet paid by insurer	Court: Exemption covers proceeds whether paid or to be paid; Long entitled to exemption

Etherton v. Owners Ins. Co., 829 F.3d 1209 (10th Cir. 2016) (federal courts defer to state supreme court statutory interpretations)
In re Borgman, 698 F.3d 1255 (10th Cir. 2012) (scope of state exemptions defined by state courts)
State ex rel. Lankford v. Collins, 174 P. 568 (Okla. 1918) (phrase “to be paid, provided or rendered” describes benefits and does not temporally limit the exemption)
First Nat’l Bank of Cushing v. Funnell, 290 P. 177 (Okla. 1930) (following Lankford; statute’s exemption continues after payment to beneficiary)