15-6-201. PROVISIONS FOR PAYMENT OR TRANSFER AT DEATH. (a) Any of the following provisions in an insurance policy, contract of employment, bond, mortgage, promissory note, deposit agreement, pension plan, trust agreement, conveyance, agreement to pass property at death to the surviving spouse or any other written instrument effective as a contract, gift, conveyance, or trust is deemed to be nontestamentary, and this code does not invalidate the instrument or any provision:

(1) that money or other benefits theretofore due to, controlled or owned by a decedent shall be paid after his death to a person designated by the decedent in either the instrument or a separate writing, including a will, executed at the same time as the instrument or subsequently;

(2) that any money due or to become due under the instrument shall cease to be payable in event of the death of the promisee or the promissor before payment or demand; or

(3) that any property which is the subject of the instrument shall pass to a person designated by the decedent in either the instrument or a separate writing, including a will, executed at the same time as the instrument or subsequently.

(b) Nothing in this section limits the rights of creditors under other laws of this state.

(c) In the case of agreements to pass property at death to the surviving spouse, such agreements shall be executed in writing, acknowledged or proved in the same manner as deeds to real property, contain a description of all real property, be altered or amended in the same way, and shall be revoked in the event husband and wife are subsequently divorced. The existence of such an agreement shall not affect the rights of creditors and any debt, cause of action or any obligation which could have been presented as a claim against the property of the decedent’s estate shall survive against the other parties to the agreement; statutes of limitations on any such debts, causes of action, choses in action, or other legal obligations shall continue to run as though the deceased person had survived and any action brought against the persons succeeding to such property shall be brought within the period limited for the commencement of such action, provided that recovery against the person succeeding to such property shall be limited to the fair market value of the property at the time of the death of the decedent.

(d) No such agreement shall be effective to pass title to property until it has been recorded, prior to the death of any party thereto, in the recorder’s office of the county of the domicile of the decedent and of each county in which real property described therein is located; nor shall any amendment to any such agreement be effective for any purpose until such amendment has been recorded in like manner prior to the death of any party thereto.

History:

[I.C., sec. 15-6-201, as added by 1971, ch. 111, sec. 1, p. 233; am. 1973, ch. 167, sec. 18, p. 319.]