When Estate Planning Goes Awry: Ambiguous Beneficiary Designations on Testamentary Substitutes

Beneficiary designations appear most often in insurance contracts, retirement plans, and annuity contracts.  These contracts are known as  testamentary substitutes because they pass outside of the probate estate. The insured or annuitant is asked to designate both the primary beneficiary(ies) and the contingent beneficiaries.  We will examine a case where an issue of construction with respect to the primary beneficiaries required Surrogate Court intervention.

On March 10, 1989, Archibald Foley executed a Will in which he divided the residuary estate as follows:  "...shall be divided into six (6) equal shares․ one each of those shares to each of my brothers and/or sisters who shall survive me and one share to be divided equally between my niece, Carmel Foley, and my nephew, Lawrence Foley, or their survivor.   If neither of them survive me or if any of my brothers and sisters shall fail to survive me, then I direct such share as would have gone to them to be divided equally amongst those brothers and sisters who do survive me."

On March 13, 1989, Dr. Foley changed the beneficiary designation on four 20-year guaranteed retirement annuities with a combined date-of-death value of $275,872.75 to read:   “to be divided equally, share & share alike among my living brothers and sisters, and one share to be divided equally between my niece (Carmel Foley) & nephew Lawrence Foley.'  Then on March 20, 1989, Foley designated the primary beneficiary under his defined contribution retirement plan with a date-of-death value of $709,380.04 to read:  “to be divided in equal shares among my living brothers and sisters-and an equal share to be divided between my niece Carmel Foley and my nephew Lawrence Foley.” He did not designate contingent beneficiaries under either the retirement annuities or the defined contribution retirement plan.  Foley's Will was admitted to probate on April 7, 1998 (In re Estate of Foley, 181 Misc. 2d 258, 693 N.Y.S.2d 843, 1999 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 241 (N.Y. Sur. Ct. May 24, 1999)) [http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ny-surrogates-court/1444422.html]

By the time Archibald Foley died, all of the primary beneficiaries under the annuities and the retirement plan had died except for his sister Edna and his niece Carmel.  The executor of Foley's Will sought a judicial ruling as to how to distribute the proceeds, particularly the 1/4 share to his predeceased nephew Lawrence.

As it turned out, this was an issue of first impression for the New York County Surrogate's Court.  " No authority has been discovered which addresses whether a predeceased beneficiary's share under a retirement plan or annuity contracts passes to the estate of decedent or to the surviving beneficiaries." Basing its analysis on prior analogous cases (The New York City Fire Department Life insurance Fund and totten trust accounts), the court reasoned that where beneficiaries were designated as individuals (Carmel and Lawrence) and not as a class (my living brothers and sisters), then they took as tenants in common and not joint tenants with right of survivorship. "Here, Mr. Foley did not expressly declare a joint tenancy in the beneficiary designation of either the retirement plan or the annuities.   Nor does the Court find the evidence that Mr. Foley intended for Lawrence Foley's proceeds to pass to the surviving beneficiary, Carmel Foley, to be sufficiently clear.  Thus, the Court is required to hold that a tenancy in common has been created.  [See EPTL 6-2.2(a) ]. Accordingly, Lawrence Foley's share of the proceeds from the retirement plan and the annuities are to be distributed to the estate of Mr. Foley."  The Will then governed the distribution of Lawrence's share, being the only document with express instructions as to predeceased relatives.  Thus a non-probate asset became a testamentary asset subject to probate.

The court was sensitive to the fact that this holding may have disrupted the intent of Mr. Foley's estate plan, but in the absence of express declarations and named contingent beneficiaries, and the ambiguity of the language used to create the primary beneficiary designations, this was the only possible result.  Yet the court was aware that this was an anomalous result: "In the absence of legislation reversing the general common law presumption in the context of retirement plans, annuity contracts and other testamentary substitutes, modern thinking as to presumed intent cannot be extended to these assets.   This anomaly merits consideration and therefore is referred to the EPTL-SCPA Advisory Committee for such action as it deems appropriate."

The lesson here is clear:  the drafting of beneficiary designations on testamentary substitutes needs to be done with great care.  Moreover, you should safeguard even your testamentary substitutes by having a Will with clear bequest, beneficiary, and residuary estate language.

If you would like to discuss your own personal situation with me, review your current Will, or put together an estate plan that is tailored for your needs, you can get a free 30-minute consultation simply by filling out this contact form. I will get back to you promptly. 

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What is the Difference between an Heir and a Beneficiary?

In everyday life, you will often hear people speak about their hope for an inheritance from a family member or relative.  However, this commonplace use of the term "inheritance" often masks a misunderstanding of the law and can lead to unintended consequences when misplaced assumptions are not addressed.  Today we are going to examine exactly what the term "inheritance" means from a legal standpoint, and how having a Will takes uncertainty out of the equation.

What defines an "heir"?  Strictly speaking, one is not an "heir" of a living person.  That is because the exact identity of an "heir" is determined at the time of the decedent's death.  The determination is made by the laws of the jurisdiction, and not by the decedent.  An "heir," then, is a legal creation and its terms are defined by a State.  One becomes an heir by virtue of satisfying the definition in a statute.  In New York, that statute is EPTL § 4-1.1. That is because New York  has an interest in the smooth transfer of property from one generation to the next.  As such, an "heir" is the statutory recipient of property from a decedent who dies without a Will (intestate).  The State is also the final "heir" in most statutory schemes.  If there are no statutory heir, then the property will go to the State (escheat).  In New York, a person who inherits property under intestate succession is called a distributee.

New York also has a "laughing heir" statute (EPTL §4-1.1(6)).  A "laughing heir" is someone entitled to inherit by law who is so remotely connected to the deceased that he or she would not feel any sorrow at hearing of the death.  To prevent this occurrence, New York cuts off heirs at the grandchildren of the deceased:  "For the purposes of this subparagraph, issue of grandparents shall not include issue more remote than grandchildren of such grandparents."  No one more remote, such as a great-grandchild, may inherit.  After that, the property of the deceased escheats to the State.

When a person dies without a Will, New York uses as its default an intestate distribution system called per capita ("each head") at each generation.  In this system, each person is weighed equally.  By virtue of their presence on the family tree, no one can be disinherited.  The first thing we have to do is determine the number of surviving distributees. To illustrate: Beth is a single person who dies without a Will.  She had two sons named Luke and Dick, and a daughter named Nancy.  Luke had two children, Bill and Jane, and Nancy had one child named Jim, and Dick had two children named Sandy and Sam.

At the time of Beth's death, Luke had already predeceased her.  Had Luke been alive, he, Nancy and Dick would have each received 1/3 of the estate.  Because Luke has already died, Nancy and Dick each receive their 1/3 share, and Luke's children divided what would have been their father's share equally between them.  So Nancy receives 1/3, Dick receives 1/3 , and Bill and Jane each receive 1/6.   

Depending upon your family situation, the New York default system of distribution may not suit your needs.  In that case, you may want to draft a Will stipulating that you want your estate distributed per stirpes ("by each branch") to give you more control over the outcome.  In New York, a person who receives under a Will is called a beneficiary.  Let's say that you want your great-grandchild to receive something from your estate.  Drafting a Will eliminates the "laughing heir" statute and allows you to leave something to your great-grandchildren.  A Will also allows you to distribute your estate to a class of beneficiaries, such as "to all my children" or "to all of my grandchildren" to cover any issue born or adopted after the execution the Will (pretermitted child).  The class closes at the time of the death of the testator.

Finally, instead of having your estate possibly escheat to the State, you can name a person unrelated to you or a charity as a beneficiary of your residuary estate.  Your property can then be used in a way that is consistent with your life and beliefs.  You should seek the advice on an attorney in drafting a Will so that your wishes are reflected in the resulting document.

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