In re Everett
In re Everett
Opinion of the Court
ORDER AND REASONS
Before the Court is Richard E. Everett’s (“Richard”), Independent Administrator of the Succession of Mark E. Everett (the “Succession”), appeal from the United States Bankruptcy Court’s October 16, 2013 order denying the Succession’s “Objection to Claim of Exemption” filed in the Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceeding of Kimberly Everett (“Kimberly”). Considering the briefs filed by the parties, the record and the applicable law, for the reasons that follow, the Court will reverse the Bank-, ruptcy Court’s order and remand this matter to the Bankruptcy Court.
I. Background
Kimberly Everett married Mark Everett (“Mark”) on April 13, 2003.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that both parties have waived any and all rights they may have in the other party’s pension, retirement, 401K or other similar accounts which may have existed prior to or during the marriage. The parties specifically hereby have waived any ac*500 counting in connection with such accounts.4
On January 23, 2008, Mark passed away.
On July 15, 2013, Kimberly filed a petition for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Louisiana has opted out of the exemptions set forth in Section 522(b) and provided for its own exemptions in Louisiana Revised Statute 13:3881. Louisiana Revised Statute 13:3881(d)(l) provides “Except as provided in Paragraph 2 of this subsection and in RS 11:292, the following shall be exempt from all liability for any debt except alimony and child support: all pensions, all tax-deferred arrangements, annuity contracts, and all proceeds of and payments under all tax-deferred arrangements and annuity contracts as defined in Paragraph 3 of the subsection.”
Similarly, Louisiana Revised Statute 20:33(1) exempts from all liability for any debt except alimony and child support all pensions, tax-deferred arrangements, and .annuity contracts as defined and to the same extent as prescribed in Louisiana Revised Statute 13:3881.
“Rolling over retirement funds from one account to another does not change their exempt status.”13 Metairie Bank & Trust Co. v. Ward, 735 So.2d 780 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1999). When funds were transferred from IRA account [sic] to another due to a community property partition they were still exempt from seizure.
... In this particular case the amounts that were received under the valid beneficiary agreement were from Mr. Everett’s retirement account which qualifies under Louisiana Revised Statute 13:3881 and rolled over into her own IRA. So, the holding of Metairie Bank & Trust Co. v. Ward is on point.
I will also add that the Debtor contends that beginning in 2011 or 2012 she was required by the IRS to take minimum distributions each year, $5,371.50 in 2011, and $5,135.87 in '12 ...14
II. Issues Raised on Appeal
The Succession acknowledges that Louisiana Revised Statute 9:2449 mandates payment of IRA benefits to the named beneficiary.
The Succession also argues that there is a standard of good faith for the commencement, prosecution and confirmation of bankruptcy proceedings.
The Succession argues that the Bankruptcy Court’s reliance on Metairie Bank and Trust v. Ward was in error.
Kimberly does not contest the Succession’s argument that it is entitled to raise a cause of action against her as to her right to possess the IRA.
Kimberly argues because she rolled the Ameriprise IRA over to another tax-deferred IRA, “the retirement proceeds never lost their tax deferred status and can continue to be protected as an exempt asset” under Louisiana Revised Statute § 13:3881(D).
Kimberly contends that the Succession raised the bad faith argument for the first time on appeal.
III. Jurisdiction
The Court has jurisdiction to hear this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), which authorizes appellate review of final orders, judgments and decrees of a United States Bankruptcy Court entered consistent with 28 U.S.C. § 157.
A district court reviews a bankruptcy court’s conclusions of law de novo, findings of fact for clear error, and mixed questions of law and fact de novo
V. Discussion
26 U.S.C. § 408(d)(3)(C)(ii) defines an inherited IRA. It provides in pertinent part:
An individual retirement account or individual retirement annuity shall be treated as inherited if—
(I) the individual for whose benefit the account or annuity is maintained acquired such account by reason of the death of another individual, and
(II) such individual was not the surviving spouse of such other individual.
Kimberly was not married to Mark at the time she obtained ownership of the account. Further, the account is titled “Kimberly Everett Inherited IRA of Mark Everett.”
Property of a bankruptcy estate consists of “all legal or equitable interests of the debtor in property as of the commencement of the case.”
A. Is the Inherited IRA Exempt Under Federal Law?
Kimberly argues that the inherited IRA is exempt under 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(C), which states, “retirement funds to the extent that those funds are in a fund or account that is exempt from taxation under section 401, 403, 408, 408A, 414, 457, or 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.” Kimberly cites In re Chil-ton, in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that funds in an inherited IRA constituted “retirement funds” within the meaning of the statute providing for the exemption of retirement funds from bankruptcy estates.
While the appeal this Court now considers was pending, the Supreme Court issued a decision abrogating the Fifth Circuit’s holding in In re Chilton.
An inherited IRA is a traditional or Roth IRA that has been inherited after its owner’s death. If the heir is the owner’s spouse, as is often the case, the spouse has a choice: He or she may “roll over” the IRA funds into his or her own IRA, or he or she may keep the IRA as an inherited IRA (subject to the rules discussed below). When anyone other than the owner’s spouse inherits the IRA, he or she may not roll over the funds; the only option is to hold the IRA as an inherited account.
Inherited IRAs dp not operate like ordinary IRAs. Unlike with a traditional or Roth IRA, an individual may withdraw funds from an inherited IRA at any time, without paying a tax penalty. Indeed, the owner of an inherited IRA not only may but must withdraw its funds: The owner must either withdraw the entire balance in the account within five years of the original owner’s death or take minimum distributions on an annual basis.. And unlike with a traditional or Roth IRA, the owner of an inherited IRA may never make contributions to the account.58
The Supreme Court noted that three legal characteristics of inherited IRAs lead it to conclude that “funds held in such accounts are not objectively set aside for the purpose of retirement.”
B. Is the Inherited IRA Exempt Under State Law?
The Bankruptcy Court found that the inherited IRA was exempt from the bankruptcy estate under Louisiana law. Louisiana law exempts “all tax-deferred arrangements” from liability for any debt except alimony and child support.
No contribution to a tax-deferred arrangement or to an annuity contract, as defined in Paragraph 3 of this Subsection, shall be exempt if made less than one calendar year of the date of filing for bankruptcy, whether voluntary or involuntary, or the date writs of seizure are filed against the tax-deferred arrangement or annuity contract. A transfer from one tax-deferred arrangement to another or from one annuity contract to another shall not be considered a contribution for purposes of this Paragraph.
The term “tax-deferred arrangement” includes all individual retirement accounts or individual retirement annuities of any variety or name, whether authorized now or in the future in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or the corre-r sponding provisions of any future United States income tax law, including balances rolled over from any other tax-deferred arrangement as defined herein,*505 money purchase pension plans, defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans, Keogh plans, simplified employee pension (SEP) plans, simple retirement account (SIMPLE) plans, Roth IRAs, or any other plan of any variety or name, whether authorized now or in the future in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or the corresponding provisions of any future United States income tax law, under which United States income tax on the tax-deferred arrangement is deferred. The term “annuity contract” shall have the same definition as defined in R.S. 22:912(B).64
Louisiana courts have not addressed whether an inherited IRA is a “tax-deferred arrangement” within the meaning of Louisiana Revised Statute § 13:3881(D). However, a number of federal bankruptcy courts have found that inherited IRAs are not .exempt from creditors under similar state statutory schemes.
In Sims, an Oklahoma statute exempted “any interest in a retirement plan or arrangement qualified for tax exemption purposes under present or future Acts of Congress ... only to the extent that contributions by or on behalf of a participant were not subject to federal income taxation to such participant at the time of such contributions.”
The Louisiana Supreme Court has stated that the “sole purpose” of its exemption laws is:
[T]o protect the citizens of the state' from being reduced by financial misfortune to absolute want, and to encourage industry and thrift and the building up of homes by placing beyond the reach of creditors the homestead and such tools, implements or appliances as a man may require to prosecute his business, whatever his walk in life or his occupation may be.70
Louisiana Bankruptcy Courts have also noted that the purpose of Louisiana Revised Statute § 13:3881 “is to provide for the subsistence, welfare, and ‘fresh start’ of the debtor, to the end that his or her
The inherited IRA is a liquid asset which may be accessed by Kimberly at her discretion without penalty, and which she must take as income within a relatively short period of time without regard for her retirement needs. Because the inherited IRA is a liquid asset rather than a retirement fund, the Court finds the purpose of protecting Kimberly from being reduced by financial misfortune to absolute want is not served by allowing Kimberly to claim the inherited IRA as exempt. The facts of this case make this point particularly clear. As part of the consent judgment Kimberly and Mark entered into during their divorce, Kimberly waived all rights to Mark’s retirement accounts.
In Mexic v. Mexic, the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal addressed the issue of whether a Roth IRA was a “tax-deferred arrangement” under a prior version of Louisiana Revised Statute § 13:3881, which did not specifically include Roth IRAs in the definition of a “tax deferred arrangement.”
In Kirchen, a Wisconsin bankruptcy court addressed the issue of whether an inherited IRA is tax-deferred.
Compliance with the Internal Revenue Code in the context of § 815.18(j) entitled “Retirement Benefits” requires
(C) Denial of rollover treatment for inherited accounts, etc.
(I) In general. In the case of an inherited individual retirement account or individual retirement annuity—
(I) this paragraph shall not apply to any amount received by an individual from such an account or annuity (and no amount transferred from such account or annuity to another individual retirement account or annuity shall be excluded from gross income by reason of such transfer), and
(II) such inherited account or annuity shall not be treated as an individual retirement account or annuity for purposes of determining whether any other amount is a rollover contribution.78
The Bankruptcy Court noted that the debtor was required to receive certain minimum distributions even though he had not reached retirement age.
In the instant case, the Bankruptcy Court found that the inherited IRA was exempt from the bankruptcy estate because Kimberly “rolled over” the funds from Mark’s IRA to her own IRA. The Bankruptcy Court cited Metairie Bank & Trust Co. v. Ward, for the proposition that “rolling over retirement funds from one account to another does not change their exempt status.”
VI. Conclusion
Based on the foregoing,
IT IS ORDERED that United States Bankruptcy Court’s October 16, 2013 order denying the Succession’s “Objection to Claim of Exemptions” is REVERSED and the matter is REMANDED to the Bankruptcy Court.
. Bankruptcy Rec. Doc. 32 at 35.
. Rec. Doc. 9-1 at 4.
.Bankruptcy Rec. Doc. 19-1 at 1.
. Id.
. Rec. Doc. 9-1 at 4.
. Id. at 5.
. Rec. Doc. 8 at 17-18.
. Bankruptcy Rec. Doc. 19-2 at 1.
. Id.
. Bankruptcy Rec. Doc. 1.
. Bankruptcy Rec. Doc. 19.
. Rec. Doc. 9-1.
. Quotation marks found in transcript.
. Rec. Doc. 9-1 at 17-19.
. Bankruptcy Rec. Doc. 36.
. Rec. Doc. 5.
. Rec. Doc. 8.
. Rec. Doc. 5 at 9.
. Id. at 9-10.
. Id. at 9-15 (citing 674 F.3d 131 (3rd Cir. 2012)).
. Id. at 15.
. Id. at 17 (citing Ward v. Turner, 150 B.R. 378 (E.D.La. 1993), opinion after remand 176 B.R. 424).
. Id.
. Id.
. Id. at 17-18 (citing 11 U.S.C. § 541(a)).
. Id. at 18.
. Id. (citing Canal Bank v. Hudson, 111 U.S. 66, 81, 4 S.Ct. 303, 28 L.Ed. 354 (1884)).
. Id. at 18-19.
. Id. at 19.
. Id. at 19-20.
. Rec. Doc. 8 at 8.
. Id.
. Id.
. Id.
. Id. at 11.
. Id. at 11-12 (citing Chilton v. Moser, 674 F.3d 486 (5th Cir. 2012)).
. Id. at 12.
. Id.
. Id.
. Id. at 9.
. Id.
. Id. at 16.
. Id.
. 28 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1).
. 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b).
. In re Nat’l Gypsum Co., 208 F.3d 498, 504 (5th Cir. 2000).
. Fed. R. Bankr.P. 8013.
. Rec. Doc. 8 at 17.
. 11 U.S.C. § 541(a)(1).
. 11 U.S.C. § 522.
. 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(A).
. 11 U.S.C. § 522(d).
. 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(A).
. La.Rev.Stat 13:3881(B)(1).
. 674 F.3d at 489.
. Clark v. Rameker, -U.S.-, 134 S.Ct. 2242, 189 L.Ed.2d 157 (2014).
. Id. at 2246.
. Id. at 2245 (internal citations omitted).
. Id. at 2247.
. Id.
. Id.
. Id.
. La.Rev.Stat. § 13:3881(D)(1).
. La.Rev.Stat. § 13:3881 (D)(2)-(3).
. See In re Taylor, No. 05-93559, 2006 WL 1275400, at *2 (Bankr.C.D.Ill. May 9, 2006) (not reported in B.R.); In re Kirchen, 344 B.R. 908, 914 (Bankr.E.D.Wis. 2006); In re Greenfield, 289 B.R. 146, 150 (Bankr.S.D.Cal. 2003); In re Sims, 241 B.R. 467, 470 (Bankr.N.D.Okla. 1999).
. Sims, 241 B.R. at 468 n. 2.
. Id. at 470.
. Id.
. Id. at 471.
. Young v. Geter, 185 La. 709, 170 So. 240, 241 (1936).
. In re Black, 225 B.R. 610, 614 (Bankr.M.D.La. 1998) (citing Ward v. Turner, 150 B.R. 378 (E.D.La. 1993), opinion after remand, 176 B.R. 424 (E.D.La. 1994); In re Hendrick, 45 B.R. 965 (Bankr.M.D.La. 1985); In re Brown, 189 B.R. 653, 660 (Bankr.M.D.La. 1995)).
. The Supreme Court has found that such a waiver does not invoke the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s ("ERISA”) anti-alienation provision. Kennedy v. Plan Administrator, 555 U.S. 285, 293, 129 S.Ct. 865, 172 L.Ed.2d 662 (2009).
. 808 So.2d 685 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2001).
. Id. at 693.
. Id. at 693-94 (citing 26 U.S.C. § 408A).
. In re Kirchen, 344 B.R. at 913-14.
. Id. at 913.
. Id. (citing 26 U.S.C. § 408(d)(3)(C)).
. Id. at 914.
. Id.
.Id.
. 134 S.Ct. at 2247.
Reference
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- In re Kimberly EVERETT
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