Effective 28 Aug 1995

461.067. Rights of owners and beneficiaries — improper distribution, liability of distributee — purchasers from distributee protected. — 1. Any protection provided to a transferring entity or to a purchaser or lender for value under sections 461.003 to 461.081 shall have no bearing on the rights of beneficiaries or others in disputes among themselves concerning the ownership of the property.

2. Unless the payment or transfer can no longer be questioned because of adjudication, estoppel or limitations, a transferee of money or property pursuant to a nonprobate transfer that was improperly distributed or paid, is liable to return to the transferring entity or deliver to the rightful transferees the money or property improperly received and the income earned thereon by the transferee. If the transferee does not have the property, then the transferee is liable to return the value of the property as of the date of disposition, and the income and gain received by the transferee from the property and its proceeds. If the transferee has encumbered the property, the transferee shall satisfy any debt incurred that imposes an encumbrance on the property, sufficient to release any security interest, lien or other encumbrance on the property.

3. A purchaser for value of property or a lender who acquires a security interest in the property from a beneficiary of a nonprobate transfer after the death of the owner, in good faith, takes the property free of any claims of or liability to the owner's estate, creditors of the owner's estate, persons claiming rights as beneficiaries under the nonprobate transfer or heirs of the owner's estate, in absence of actual knowledge that the transfer was improper or that the information in an affidavit, if any, provided pursuant to subdivision (14) of subsection 3 of section 461.062 is not true; and, a purchaser or lender for value shall have no duty to verify sworn information relating to the nonprobate transfer. The protection provided by this subsection applies to information that relates to the ownership interest of the beneficiary in the property and the beneficiary's right to sell, encumber and transfer good title to a purchaser or lender and does not relieve a purchaser or lender from the notice imparted by instruments of record respecting the property.

4. A nonprobate transfer that is improper because of the application of sections 461.045 to 461.059 shall impose no liability on the transferring entity if made honestly in good faith, regardless of any negligence in determining the proper transferees. The remedy of the rightful transferees shall be limited to an action against the improper transferees.

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(L. 1989 H.B. 145 § 39, A.L. 1995 S.B. 116)