Sadler v. Buskirk

While he was married to Barbara Van Buskirk, Richard Van Buskirk established an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) with the Dreyfus Family of Funds. Richard identified Barbara as the beneficiary on the account. When Richard and Barbara divorced in 1997, a property settlement agreement entered into by the parties was incorporated into the final divorce decree. Richard died in 2011. Ruth Ann Sadler, Richard’s widow and the administratrix of his estate, filed a motion to intervene in the Van Buskirks’ final divorce action so that she could request a declaration of rights that Barbara had no rights to Richard’s Dreyfus IRA account. The trial court granted Ruth Ann’s motion to intervene but denied her motion to declare that Barbara had no rights to Richard’s IRA, concluding that the agreement was silent with respect to the beneficiary interest in Richard’s IRA and, therefore, the account designation naming Barbara as the beneficiary governed the dispute. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the agreement clearly and unambiguously assigned the full and exclusive ownership interest of the Dreyfus IRA to Richard, and the agreement correspondingly prohibited Barbara from asserting any interest in the IRA owned by Richard. View "Sadler v. Buskirk" on Justia Law