This case involved a dispute over who was the proper beneficiary of an individual retirement account ("IRA") owned by decedent Edward F. Dees, Sr. ("Dees"). Timothy Dees, Edward Dees, Jr., and Donna Dees Maddox, Dees's adult children, appealed the grant of summary judgment entered in favor of Dees's surviving spouse, Martha Lafaye Dees. Martha cross-appealed the dismissal of her claims against Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC, the financial-services firm that managed the IRA. The children argued that it was their father's intent to pass the funds in the IRA to his natural children. They contended that, because no copy of a signed IRA agreement had been produced, there was no evidence indicating that Dees had assented to any default-beneficiary provision. Thus, they argued, the funds in the IRA should have passed through Dees's estate. In her cross-motion for a summary judgment, Martha argued that the default-beneficiary provisions of the IRA agreement applied. Specifically, she argued that, even if
Dees had originally executed a beneficiary-designation form naming the children as contingent beneficiaries, there was uncontradicted evidence that Dees had executed a new beneficiary-designation form naming her as the sole beneficiary. The trial court concluded that neither side had established that Dees had provided Morgan Stanley with a beneficiary-designation form and that, therefore, the default provisions of the IRA agreement applied. Thus, in accordance with those provisions, the trial court ordered Morgan Stanley to distribute the proceeds of the IRA to Martha. The court dismissed all remaining claims sua sponte, including Martha's tort claims against Morgan Stanley. After review of the trial court record, the Alabama Supreme Court concluded there were "a myriad" of genuine issues of material fact that made summary judgment improper in this case. As such, summary judgment granted to Martha was reversed, and the matter remanded for further proceedings. View "Dees v. Dees" on Justia Law
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