Rhode Island § 34-5-2 - Disclaimer of Certain Property Interests

§ 34-5-2. Disclaimer of interest in estate.

(a) Unless barred by the provisions of § 34-5-9, a beneficiary may disclaim any interest in property which, except for the execution and filing of a disclaimer in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, would pass to the beneficiary:

(1) By intestate succession, devise, legacy, bequest; as beneficiary of a testamentary trust or beneficiary of a testamentary gift to a nontestamentary trust; by succession in any manner described in this subdivision to a disclaimed interest; or in any other manner not specified above under a testamentary instrument or by operation of any statute or rule of law governing devolution or disposition of property upon or after a person’s death.

(2) As donee, grantee, beneficiary of an inter vivos trust, beneficiary of an insurance or annuity contract, or as surviving joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, except that a surviving joint tenant or tenant by the entirety may not disclaim that portion of an interest in joint property or property held by the entirety which is allocable to amounts contributed by him or her to the interest in that property; under any deed, assignment, or other nontestamentary instrument of conveyance or transfer; by succession in any manner described in this subdivision to a disclaimed interest; or in any other manner not specified above under a nontestamentary instrument or by operation of any statute or rule of law.

(b) Disclaimer may be made as provided in § 34-5-3 by the duly appointed guardian or conservator of a beneficiary or by the legal representative of a deceased beneficiary’s estate.