In the MATTER OF the ESTATE OF Joseph C. GANTNER III, Deceased Rachel Gantner, Appellant.
No. 16-1028
Supreme Court of Iowa.
Filed April 21, 2017
897 N.W.2d 896
To me, when an insurer says it pays all сhiropractors categorically less than it pays other healthcare providers for performing the same procedures because chiropractors as a group have less training, a more limited scope of practice, and lower overhead and costs, this is not an out for the insurer. The insurer is still discriminating based on the chiropractor‘s status as a chiropractor (i.e., his or her licensing and practice). Wellmark does not claim, for example, that it would pay more to a chiropractor who had a Ph.D. or an ornate office.
But again, I do not believe
For the foregoing reasons, I specially concur.
Waterman, J., joins this special concurrence.
Abbe M. Stеnsland and Crystal R. Pound of Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman PLC, Cedar Rapids, for appellees.
MANSFIELD, Justice.
This case requires us to determine whether a decedent‘s individual retirement accounts (IRAs) may be used to pay an allowance to a surviving spouse who was not a beneficiary of those IRAs. The spouse argues that under
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
Joseph Gantner died on December 10, 2015, survived by his wife, Rachel Gantner, and two daughters, Meredith and Paige Gantner, aged twenty-three and twenty years old. Joseph had previously executed a will that prоvided for the distribution of his personal property and established a trust for the benefit of his daughters. The will also left ninety percent of Joseph‘s residual estate to his daughters. Joseph‘s will was admitted to probate on February 2, 2016, and a bank was appointed executor that same day.
On February 16, Rachel Gantner filed for an elective share of Joseph‘s estate and also requested a spousal support allowance. See
Meredith and Paige jointly resisted Rachel‘s application for spousal support. Of particular relevance to this appeal, the daughters maintained that several retirement accounts did not constitute part of the probate estate and were therefore beyond the reach of Raсhel‘s spousal allowance. The daughters also submitted an unsigned and undated prenuptial agreement between Joseph and Rachel that purported to waive spousal support rights.
The probate court held an unreported hearing on Rachel‘s application for spousal support allowance on April 1. At the hearing, it becаme clear that without the retirement accounts, Joseph‘s estate had insufficient assets from which to pay a spousal allowance to Rachel. Following the hearing, Meredith and Paige filed several summary documents concerning the three retirement accounts.
While Rachel acknowledged the Gantner daughters were designated as cobeneficiaries on all three retirement accounts, she maintained the accounts should be dеemed part of Joseph‘s estate for spousal support purposes. Rachel pointed to
The Gantner daughters disputed that either an IRA or a SEP IRA qualifies as a “security” under
In a written order, the probate court denied Rachel‘s application for spousal allowance. Rather than focusing on the meaning of the term “security” as used in
Rachel appealed, and we retained the appeal.
II. Standard of Review.
A claim for spousal support under
III. Analysis.
A surviving spouse has a statutory right to submit an application “for suppоrt for a period of twelve months following the death of the decedent.”
The court shall, upon application, set off and order paid to the surviving spouse, as part of the costs of administration, sufficient of the decedent‘s property including assets held in a revocable trust of which the decedent is the settlor to the extent that estate assets are not sufficient as it deems reasonable for the proper support of the surviving spouse fоr the period of twelve months following the death of the decedent. . . . The court shall take into consideration the station in life of the surviving spouse, the assets and condition of the estate and any revocable trust of which the decedent is the settlor, the nonprobate assets received by the surviving spouse by reason of the death of the decedent, and the income and other resources of the surviving spouse.
We have long held that a surviving spouse is entitled to an allowance from estate property under this statute as a matter of right. In re Estate of Tollefsrud, 275 N.W.2d 412, 415 (Iowa 1979); see Veeder v. Veeder, 195 Iowa 587, 597, 192 N.W. 409, 413 (1923); 1 Sheldon F. Kurtz, Kurtz on Iowa Estates: Intestacy, Wills, and Estate Administration § 8.24, at 341 (3d ed. 1995) (“The surviving spouse‘s right to an allowance is nearly absolute.“). In this case, we consider the property from which the allowance may be drawn—in particular, whether a court may order a spousal allowance to be taken from IRAs of the decedent that designated someone other than the spouse as beneficiary.
Because the probate court relied on our decision in In re Estate of Myers, we will begin our discussion with that case. The issue in Myers was “whether a surviving spouse‘s elective share, as defined in
We reversed on appeal, holding that “only the assets specifically enumerated in
The assets of a custodial independent retirement account shall pass on or after the death of the designator of the custodial independent retirement account to the beneficiary or beneficiaries specified in the custodial independent retirement account agreement signed by the designator or designated by the designator in writing pursuant to the custodial independent retirement account agreement. Assets that pass to a beneficiary рursuant to this section shall not be considered part of the designator‘s probate estate except to the extent that the designator‘s estate is a beneficiary.
Rachel, however, maintains that the provisions of
If other assets of the estate of a deceased owner are insufficient to pay debts, taxes, and expenses of administration, including statutory allowances to the surviving spouse and children, a transfer at death of a security registered in beneficiary form is not effective against the estate of the deceased sole owner . . . to the extent needed to pay debts, taxes, and expenses of administration, including statutory allowances to the surviving spouse and children.
We agree with Rachel that
Like many other uniform state laws,
The obvious intent of
We must now determine whether Joseph‘s IRAs and SEP IRA are covered by
“Security” means a note; stock; treasury stock; security future; bond; debenture; evidence of indebtedness; certificate of interest or participation in a profit-sharing agreement; collateral trust certificate; preorganization certificate or subscription; transferable share; investment contract; voting trust certificate; certificate of deposit for a security; fractional undivided interest in oil, gas, or other mineral rights; put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on a security, certificate of deposit, or group or index of securities, including an interest therein or based on the value thereof; put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered into on a national securities exchange relаting to foreign currency; or, in general, an interest or instrument commonly known as a “security“; or a certificate of interest or participation in, temporary or interim certificate for, receipt for, guarantee of, or warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing.
An IRA (whether traditional or SEP) is not in itself a stock, bond, interest or other form of “security” as defined in
The statutory definition is quite specific. A security account “means” (rather than “includes“) six separate items. When a statute declares what a term “means,” this usually excludes any items not listed in the definition. See 2A Norman J. Singer & Shambie Singer, Statutes and Statutory Construction § 47:7, at 310-12 (7th rev. ed. 2014); cf. Estate of Bockwoldt, 814 N.W.2d 215, 224 (Iowa 2012) (“A statute that ‘declares what it “includes” is more susceptible to extension of meaning by construction than where the definition declares what a term “means.“‘” (quoting 2A Norman J. Singer & J.D. Shambie Singer, Sutherland Statutory Construction § 47:7, at 305 (7th ed. 2007))); Am. Eyecare v. Dep‘t of Human Servs., 770 N.W.2d 832, 837 (Iowa 2009).
The items listed in the definition are (1) a reinvestment account for a security, i.e., where a security is purchased and then automatic reinvestments of the earnings in additional purchases of that security occur; (2) a securities account with a broker; (3) a cash balance in a brokerage account; (4) earnings on one of the foregoing; (5) a cash balance in an account held as a replacement for, or product of, an account security; or (6) an investment management or custody account with a bank or trust company including the securities, cash, and earning therein.
Reading
Thus, an IRA does not and cannot literally “transfer on death” to anyone other than a spouse. See
The presence of
[t]he assets of a custodial independent retirement account shall pass on or аfter the death of the designator of the . . . account to the beneficiary or beneficiaries specified in the . . . account agreement . . . pursuant to the . . . account agreement.
Thus, in 1999, the general assembly decided to enact a specific, separate statute governing custodial IRA accounts. As thе bill explanation stated,
The bill creates a new Code section 633.357 to provide that the beneficiary designation by the owner of a custodial independent retirement account controls the distribution of the benefits and the account is not a part of the testamentary disposition of a deceased owner subject to the terms of the will of the owner unless the designated beneficiary of the account is the estate of the owner.
H.F. 662, 78th G.A., 1st Sess., explanation (Iowa 1999).
Unlike
Yet if
IV. Conclusion.
For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that
AFFIRMED.
MANSFIELD, Justice
