Chapter 16 - Uniform Tod Security Registration - Wyoming Statutes

CHAPTER 16 - UNIFORM TOD SECURITY REGISTRATION

 

2-16-101. Short title; rules of construction.

 

Thisact shall be known as and may be cited as the "Uniform TOD SecurityRegistration Act."

 

2-16-102. Definitions.

 

(a) As used in this act:

 

(i) "Beneficiary form" means a registration of asecurity which indicates the present owner of the security and the intention ofthe owner regarding the person who will become the owner of the security uponthe death of the owner;

 

(ii) "Devisee" means any person designated in a willto receive a disposition of real or personal property;

 

(iii) "Heirs" mean those persons, including thesurviving spouse, who are entitled under the statutes of intestate successionto the property of a decedent;

 

(iv) "Person" means an individual, a corporation, anorganization or other legal entity;

 

(v) "Personal representative" includes executor,administrator, successor personal representative, special administrator and personswho perform substantially the same function under the law governing theirstatus;

 

(vi) "Property" includes both real and personalproperty or any interest therein and means anything that may be the subject ofownership;

 

(vii) "Register" including its derivatives, means toissue a certificate showing the ownership of a certificated security or, in thecase of an uncertificated security, to initiate or transfer an account showingownership of securities;

 

(viii) "Registering entity" means a person whooriginates or transfers a security title by registration and includes a brokermaintaining security accounts for customers and a transfer agent or otherperson acting for or as an issuer of securities;

 

(ix) "Security" means a share, participation or otherinterest in property, in a business, or in an obligation of an enterprise orother issuer, and includes a certificated security, an uncertificated securityand a security account;

 

(x) "Security account" means:

 

(A) A reinvestment account associated with a security, asecurities account with a broker, a cash balance in a brokerage account, cash,cash equivalents, interest, earnings or dividends earned or declared on asecurity in an account, a reinvestment account, or a brokerage account, whetheror not credited to the account before the owner's death;

 

(B) A cash balance or other property held for or due to theowner of a security as a replacement for or product of an account security,whether or not credited to the account before the owner's death; or

 

(C) An investment management or custody account with a trustcompany or a bank with trust powers, including the securities in the account, acash balance in the account, and cash, cash equivalents, interest, earnings ordividends earned or declared on a security in the account, whether or notcredited to the account before the owner's death.

 

(xi) "State" includes any state of the United States,the District of Columbia, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory orpossession subject to the legislative authority of the United States;

 

(xii) "This act" means W.S. 2-16-101 through 2-16-112.

 

2-16-103. Registration in beneficiary form; sole or joint tenancyownership.

 

Onlyindividuals whose registration of a security shows sole ownership by one (1)individual or multiple ownership by two (2) or more individuals with right ofsurvivorship, rather than as tenants in common, may obtain registration inbeneficiary form. Multiple owners of a security registered in beneficiary formhold as joint tenants with right of survivorship, as tenants by the entiretiesor as owners of community property held in survivorship form, and not astenants in common.

 

2-16-104. Registration in beneficiary form; applicable law.

 

Asecurity may be registered in beneficiary form if the form is authorized bythis or a similar statute of the state of organization of the issuer orregistering entity, the location of the registering entity's principal office,the office of its transfer agent or its office making the registration, or bythis or a similar statute of the law of the state listed as the owner's addressat the time of registration. A registration governed by the law of ajurisdiction in which this or similar legislation is not in force or was not inforce when a registration in beneficiary form was made is nevertheless presumedto be valid and authorized as a matter of contract law.

 

2-16-105. Origination of registration in beneficiary form.

 

Asecurity, whether evidenced by certificate or account, is registered inbeneficiary form when the registration includes a designation of a beneficiaryto take the ownership at the death of the owner or the deaths of all multipleowners.

 

2-16-106. Form of registration in beneficiary form.

 

Registrationin beneficiary form may be shown by the words "transfer on death" orthe abbreviation "TOD," or by the words "pay on death" orthe abbreviation "POD," after the name of the registered owner andbefore the name of a beneficiary.

 

2-16-107. Effect of registration in beneficiary form.

 

Thedesignation of a TOD beneficiary on a registration in beneficiary form has noeffect on ownership until the owner's death. A registration of a security inbeneficiary form may be canceled or changed at any time by the sole owner orall then surviving owners without the consent of the beneficiary.

 

2-16-108. Ownership on death of owner.

 

Ondeath of a sole owner or the last to die of all multiple owners, ownership ofsecurities registered in beneficiary form passes to the beneficiary orbeneficiaries who survive all owners. On proof of death of all owners andcompliance with any applicable requirements of the registering entity, asecurity registered in beneficiary form may be reregistered in the name of thebeneficiary or beneficiaries who survived the death of all owners. Untildivision of the security after the death of all owners, multiple beneficiariessurviving the death of all owners hold their interest as tenants in common. Ifno beneficiary survives the death of all owners, the security belongs to theestate of the deceased sole owner or the estate of the last to die of allmultiple owners.

 

2-16-109. Protection of registering entity.

 

(a) A registering entity is not required to offer or to accepta request for security registration in beneficiary form. If a registration inbeneficiary form is offered by a registering entity, the owner requestingregistration in beneficiary form assents to the protections given to theregistering entity by this act.

 

(b) By accepting a request for registration of a security inbeneficiary form, the registering entity agrees that the registration will beimplemented on death of the deceased owner as provided in this act.

 

(c) A registering entity is discharged from all claims to a securityby the estate, creditors, heirs or devisees of a deceased owner if it registersa transfer of the security in accordance with W.S. 2-16-108 and does so in goodfaith reliance (1) on the registration, (2) on this act, and (3) on informationprovided to it by affidavit of the personal representative of the deceasedowner, or by the surviving beneficiary or by the surviving beneficiary'srepresentatives, or other information available to the registering entity. Theprotections of this act do not extend to a reregistration or payment made aftera registering entity has received written notice from any claimant to anyinterest in the security objecting to implementation of a registration inbeneficiary form. No other notice or other information available to theregistering entity affects its right to protection under this act.

 

(d) The protection provided by this act to the registeringentity of a security does not affect the rights of beneficiaries in disputesbetween themselves and other claimants to ownership of the security transferredor its value or proceeds.

 

2-16-110. Nontestamentary transfer on death.

 

(a) A transfer on death resulting from a registration inbeneficiary form is effective by reason of the contract regarding theregistration between the owner and the registering entity and this act and isnot testamentary.

 

(b) This act does not limit the rights of creditors of securityowners against beneficiaries and other transferees under other laws of thisstate.

 

2-16-111. Terms, conditions and forms for registration.

 

Aregistering entity offering to accept registrations in beneficiary form mayestablish the terms and conditions under which it will receive requests (1) forregistrations in beneficiary form, and (2) for implementation of registrationsin beneficiary form, including requests for cancellation of previouslyregistered TOD beneficiary designations and requests for reregistration toeffect a change of beneficiary. The terms and conditions so established mayprovide for proving death, avoiding or resolving any problems concerningfractional shares, designating primary and contingent beneficiaries, andsubstituting a named beneficiary's descendants to take in the place of thenamed beneficiary in the event of the beneficiary's death. Substitution may beindicated by appending to the name of the primary beneficiary the letters LDPS,standing for "lineal descendants per stirpes." This designationsubstitutes a deceased beneficiary's descendants who survive the owner for abeneficiary who fails to so survive, the descendants to be identified and toshare in accordance with the law of the beneficiary's domicile at the owner'sdeath governing inheritance by descendants of an intestate. Other forms ofidentifying beneficiaries who are to take on one (1) or more contingencies, andrules for providing proofs and assurances needed to satisfy reasonable concernsby registering entities regarding conditions and identities relevant toaccurate implementation of registrations in beneficiary form, may be containedin a registering entity's terms and conditions.

 

2-16-112. Application of act.

 

Thisact applies to registrations of securities in beneficiary form made before orafter July 1, 1993, by decedents dying on or after July 1, 1993.