The statutory list of nonprobate assets subject to the elective share cannot be expanded by judicial decision. In Sieh v. Sieh, 713 N.W.2d 194 (Iowa 2006), the Iowa Supreme Court held that the property in a revocable trust created by a deceased spouse was subject to the surviving spouse’s right of election. Subsequently the legislature amended that section to codify the result in Sieh. In In re Estate of Myers, No. 11-1378, 2012 WL 5373711 (Iowa Nov. 2, 2012), the Iowa Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s holding that under the rationale of Sieh, various POD accounts created by the deceased spouse are subject to the survivor’s elective share rights. The court held that the text and the legislative history of the amendment do not allow extension of the rationale of Sieh to other forms of nonprobate property and therefore Sieh is overruled.
Special thanks to
William LaPiana Professor of Law, New York Law School) for bringing this case to my attention.
