2004 Minnesota Statutes

     525.532 Disclaimer of interests passing by will, 
  intestate succession or under certain powers of appointment. 

    Subdivision 1.    Definitions.  As used in this section, 
 unless otherwise clearly required by the context: 

    (a) "Beneficiary" means and includes any person entitled, 
 but for that person's disclaimer, to take an interest:  by 
 intestate succession; by devise; by legacy or bequest; by 
 succession to a disclaimed interest by will, intestate 
 succession or through the exercise or nonexercise of a 
 testamentary power of appointment; by virtue of a renunciation 
 and election to take against a will; as beneficiary of a 
 testamentary trust; pursuant to the exercise or nonexercise of a 
 testamentary power of appointment; as donee of a power of 
 appointment created by testamentary instrument; or otherwise 
 under a testamentary instrument; 

    (b) "Interest" means and includes the whole of any 
 property, real or personal, legal or equitable, or any 
 fractional part, share or particular portion or specific assets 
 thereof or any estate in any such property or power to appoint, 
 consume, apply or expend property or any other right, power, 
 privilege or immunity relating thereto; 

    (c) "Disclaimer" means a written instrument which declines, 
 refuses, releases, renounces or disclaims an interest which 
 would otherwise be succeeded to by a beneficiary, which 
 instrument defines the nature and extent of the interest 
 disclaimed thereby and which must be signed, witnessed and 
 acknowledged by the disclaimant in the manner provided for deeds 
 of real estate.  

    Subd. 2.    Right to disclaim.  A beneficiary may 
 disclaim any interest in whole or in part, or with reference to 
 specific parts, shares or assets thereof, by filing a disclaimer 
 in court in the manner hereinafter provided.  A guardian, 
 executor, administrator or other personal representative of the 
 estate of a minor, incompetent or deceased beneficiary, if that 
 person deems it in the best interests of those interested in the 
 estate of such beneficiary and of those who take the 
 beneficiary's interest by virtue of the disclaimer and not 
 detrimental to the best interests of the beneficiary, with or 
 without an order of the probate court, may execute and file a 
 disclaimer on behalf of the beneficiary within the time and in 
 the manner in which the beneficiary could disclaim if living, of 
 legal age and competent.  A beneficiary likewise may execute and 
 file a disclaimer by agent or attorney so empowered.  

    Subd. 3.    Filing deadline.  Such disclaimer shall be 
 filed at any time after the creation of the interest, but in all 
 events within nine months after the death of the person by whom 
 the interest was created or from whom it would have been 
 received, or, if the disclaimant is not finally ascertained as a 
 beneficiary or the interest has not become indefeasibly fixed 
 both in quality and quantity as of the death of such person, 
 then such disclaimer shall be filed not later than nine months 
 after the event which would cause the disclaimant so to become 
 finally ascertained and the interest to become indefeasibly 
 fixed both in quality and quantity. 

    Subd. 4.    Effectiveness; procedures.  Such disclaimer 
 shall be effective upon being filed in the court in which the 
 estate of the person by whom the interest was created or from 
 whom it would have been received is, or has been, administered 
 or, if no probate administration has been commenced, then in the 
 court where it would be pending if commenced.  A copy of the 
 disclaimer shall be delivered or mailed to the personal 
 representative, trustee or other person having legal title to, 
 or possession of, the property in which the interest disclaimed 
 exists, and no such representative, trustee or person shall be 
 liable for any otherwise proper distribution or other 
 disposition made without actual notice of the disclaimer.  If an 
 interest in or relating to real estate is disclaimed, the 
 original of the disclaimer, or a copy of the disclaimer 
 certified as true and complete by the court administrator of the 
 court wherein the same has been filed, shall be filed in the 
 office of the county recorder or the registrar of titles, as 
 hereinafter provided, in the county or counties where the real 
 estate is situated and shall constitute notice to all persons 
 only from and after the time of such filing.  If title to such 
 real estate has not been registered under the provisions of 
 chapter 508, such disclaimer or certified copy shall be filed 
 with the county recorder.  If title to such real estate has been 
 registered under the provisions of chapter 508, such disclaimer 
 or certified copy shall be filed with the registrar of titles. 

    Subd. 5.    Descent of disclaimed property.  Unless the 
 person by whom the interest was created or from whom it would 
 have been received has otherwise provided by will or other 
 appropriate instrument with reference to the possibility of a 
 disclaimer by the beneficiary, the property in which the 
 interest disclaimed existed shall descend, be distributed or 
 otherwise be disposed of in the same manner as if the 
 disclaimant had died immediately preceding the death or other 
 event which causes the disclaimant to become finally ascertained 
 as a beneficiary and the interest to become indefeasibly fixed 
 both in quality and quantity, and, in any case, the disclaimer 
 shall relate for all purposes to such date, whether filed before 
 or after such death or other event.  However, one disclaiming an 
 interest in a nonresiduary gift, devise or bequest shall not be 
 excluded, unless the disclaimer so provides, from sharing in a 
 gift, devise or bequest of the residue even though, through 
 lapse, such residue includes the assets disclaimed.  An interest 
 of any nature in or to the estate of an intestate may be 
 declined, refused or disclaimed as herein provided without ever 
 vesting in the disclaimant.  

    Subd. 6.    Limitation.  The right to disclaim otherwise 
 conferred by this section shall be barred if the beneficiary is 
 insolvent at the time of the event giving rise to the right to 
 disclaim.  Any voluntary assignment or transfer of, or contract 
 to assign or transfer, an interest in real or personal property, 
 or written waiver of the right to disclaim the succession to an 
 interest in real or personal property, by any beneficiary, or 
 any sale or other disposition of an interest in real or personal 
 property pursuant to judicial process, made before the 
 beneficiary has filed a disclaimer, as herein provided, bars the 
 right otherwise hereby conferred on such beneficiary to disclaim 
 as to such interest.  

    Subd. 7.    Spendthrift and similar provisions.  The 
 right to disclaim granted by this section shall exist 
 irrespective of any limitation imposed on the interest of the 
 disclaimant in the nature of an express or implied spendthrift 
 provision or similar restriction.  A disclaimer, when filed as 
 provided in this section, or a written waiver of the right to 
 disclaim, shall be binding upon the disclaimant or beneficiary 
 so waiving and all parties thereafter claiming by, through or 
 under that person, except that a beneficiary so waiving may 
 thereafter transfer, assign or release the interest if such is 
 not prohibited by an express or implied spendthrift provision.  
 If an interest in real estate is disclaimed and the disclaimer 
 is duly filed in accordance with the provisions of subdivision 
 4, the spouse of the disclaimant, if such spouse has consented 
 to the disclaimer in writing, shall thereupon be automatically 
 debarred from any spouse's statutory or common law right or 
 estate by curtesy or in dower or otherwise in such real estate 
 to which such spouse, except for such disclaimer, would have 
 been entitled.  

    Subd. 8.    Rights under other law.  This section shall 
 not abridge the right of any person, apart from this section, 
 under any existing or future statute or rule of law, to disclaim 
 any interest or to assign, convey, release, renounce or 
 otherwise dispose of any interest.  

    Subd. 9.    Interests existing on May 22, 1965.  Any 
 interest which exists on May 22, 1965 but which has not then 
 become indefeasibly fixed both in quality and quantity, or the 
 taker of which has not then become finally ascertained, may be 
 disclaimed after May 22, 1965 in the manner provided herein. 

    HIST: 1965 c 552 s 1; 1975 c 347 s 112,113; 1976 c 181 s 2; 
 1980 c 439 s 33; 1986 c 444; 1Sp1986 c 3 art 1 s 82