Renunciation And Disclaimer of Property from Life Insurance or Annuity Contract
Disclaimer of Property Interest-Tennessee
Tennessee Code
TITLE 31 DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION
Chapter 1. General Provisions
Disclaimer.
(a) A person who is:
(1) The donee of a gift, whether outright or in trust;
(7) A beneficiary designated in a pay-on-death account, an insurance
policy, an individual retirement account, an annuity, a retirement plan
whether qualified or not, or any other type of deferred compensation arrangement;
may disclaim all or part of the property, powers or interest therein as
provided herein. Such disclaimer may be made by the person's personal representative,
trustee, guardian, conservator, attorney in fact or parent having custody
if the disclaimant is a minor and no legal guardian has been appointed.
If the disclaimer is made by a fiduciary, including, but not limited to,
the enumerated positions in the preceding sentence, the disclaimer shall
be binding on any successor fiduciary.
(b) To be effective the disclaimer must be an irrevocable and unqualified
refusal by a person to accept an interest in property or to retain fiduciary
powers but only if:
(1) Such refusal is in writing, which writing shall:
(2) Such writing is received by the transferor of the interest, the
transferor's legal representative, or the holder of the legal title to
the property to which the interest relates, and, if the subject of the
disclaimer is realty, is filed in the county register's office and, if
the disclaimer involves an interest in a decedent's estate, with the court
in which the decedent's estate proceedings are or would be pending not
later than the date which is nine (9) months after the later of:
(4) As a result of such refusal, the interest passes without any
direction on the part of the person making the disclaimer and passes either:
(c) Unless the decedent has otherwise indicated by will, the interest
disclaimed passes to those persons including the ones who would take under
§ 32-3-105 as if the person disclaiming had predeceased the decedent.
Unless the donor of a gift or the creator of a power has otherwise indicated
in the document evidencing the gift or creating the power, the interest
disclaimed passes as if the person disclaiming had died intestate, or,
if the person disclaiming is one designated to take pursuant to a power
of appointment, as if the person disclaiming had predeceased the donee
of the power. In every case the disclaimer relates back for all purposes
to the date of death of the decedent, the date of the gift or the date
of death of the donee of a power, as the case may be. If the disclaimer
is of a fiduciary power, the power will either be exercisable by some other
fiduciary or void.
(d) Any:
(1) Assignment, conveyance, encumbrance, pledge, or transfer
of property or an interest therein or any contract therefor;
(2) Written waiver of the right to disclaim or any acceptance of
property by an heir, devisee, donee, person succeeding to a disclaimed
interest, beneficiary, or person designated to take pursuant to a power of appointment; or
(3) Sale or other disposition of property pursuant to judicial process;
made before the expiration of the period in which the person is permitted
to disclaim, bars the right to disclaim as to the property.
(e) The right to disclaim granted by this section exists irrespective
of any limitation on the interest of the person disclaiming in the nature
of a spendthrift provision or similar restriction.
(f) This section does not abridge the right of any person to assign,
convey, release, or disclaim any property arising under any other section
of this title or any other statute.
(g) Any interest in property which exists on April 1, 1977, at one
minute past midnight (12:01 a.m.), but which has not then become indefeasibly
fixed both in quality and quantity, or the taker of which has not then
become finally ascertained, may be disclaimed after one minute past midnight
(12:01 a.m.) on April 1, 1977, as provided herein. An interest which has
arisen prior to one minute past midnight (12:01 a.m.) on April 1, 1977,
in any person other than the person disclaiming is not destroyed or diminished
by any action of the person disclaiming taken under this section.
Title 31, Chap. 1, §31-1-103.