Oklahoma § 71-908 - Ownership on death - Rights of creditors

§ 71-908. Ownership on death - Rights of creditors

A. On death of a sole owner or the last to die of all multiple

owners, ownership of securities registered in beneficiary form

passes to the beneficiary or beneficiaries who survive all owners.

On proof of death of all owners and compliance with any applicable

requirements of the registering entity, a security registered in

beneficiary form may be reregistered in the name of the beneficiary

or beneficiaries who survived the death of all owners. Until

division of the security after the death of all owners, multiple

beneficiaries surviving the death of all owners hold their interests

as tenants in common.

B. If no beneficiary survives the death of all owners, the

security belongs to the estate of the deceased sole owner or the

estate of the last to die of all multiple owners. A beneficiary

fails to survive if the beneficiary is treated as having predeceased

an owner by operation of Section 178 of Title 15 of the Oklahoma

Statutes.

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 71. Securities

C. 1. A registration in beneficiary form is not effective

against an estate of a deceased sole owner or a deceased last to die

of multiple owners to transfer to a beneficiary or beneficiaries

sums needed to pay debts, taxes, and expenses of administration,

including statutory allowances to the surviving spouse, minor

children, and dependent children, if other assets of the estate are

insufficient. A TOD beneficiary in whose name a security is

registered after the death of the owner is liable to account to the

deceased owner's personal representative for securities so

registered or their proceeds to the extent necessary to discharge

such claims and charges remaining unpaid after the application of

the assets of the decedent's estate. A proceeding to assert this

liability may not be commenced unless the personal representative

has received a written demand by a surviving spouse, a creditor, or

one acting for a minor dependent child of the decedent, and a

proceeding may not be commenced later than two (2) years following

the death of the decedent. A beneficiary against whom the

proceeding is brought may elect to transfer to the personal

representative the security registered in the name of the

beneficiary after the death of the deceased owner if the beneficiary

still owns the security, or the net proceeds received by the

beneficiary upon disposition of the security by the beneficiary, and

that transfer fully discharges the beneficiary from all liability

under this subsection. Amounts or securities recovered by the

personal representative must be administered as part of the deceased

owner's estate.

2. This subsection does not affect the right of a registering

entity to register a security in the name of the beneficiary, or

make a registering entity liable to the estate of a deceased owner,

except for a reregistration after a registering entity has received

written notice from any claimant to an interest in the security

objecting to implementation of a registration in beneficiary form.

Added by Laws 1994, c. 208, § 8, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.