IRA Beneficiary Designation Not Invalid Will Substitute

The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals held that an IRA beneficiary designation is not an invalid will substitute, that the IRA account is not part of the deceased’s owner’s estate and is therefore not subject to the surviving spouse’s right of election (84 O.S. 2001 § 44(B)(1)), and that the surviving spouse may have a claim to the some part of the account based on other than the elective share statute which claim could be enforced by the imposition of a constructive trust on the designated beneficiaries. Estate of Wellshear, 142 P.3d 994 (Okla. Civ. App. 2006).