HB 469

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to individual retirement accounts;
3	amending s. 222.21, F.S.; clarifying the exemption of
4	inherited individual retirement accounts from legal
5	processes; providing intent; providing for retroactive
6	application; providing an effective date.
7
8	WHEREAS, many residents of this state have individual
9	retirement accounts, relying upon the Legislature's intent that
10	individual retirement accounts be exempt from claims of
11	creditors, and
12	WHEREAS, the Legislature clearly intended in s.
13	222.21(2)(c), Florida Statutes, that inherited individual
14	retirement accounts included in s. 402(c) of the Internal
15	Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, be exempt from claims of
16	creditors of the owner, beneficiary, or participant of the
17	inherited individual retirement account, and
18	WHEREAS, in Robertson v. Deeb, 16 So. 3d 936 (Fla. 2d DCA
19	2009) the appellate court, contrary to the Legislature's intent,
20	held that an inherited individual retirement account was not
21	exempt from the beneficiaries' creditors because such an account
22	was not included in property described in s. 222.21, Florida
23	Statutes, a decision that was followed in the Bankruptcy Court
24	of the Middle District of Florida, In re: Ard, 435 B.R. 719
25	(Bkrtcy. M.D. Fla. 2010), NOW, THEREFORE,
26
27	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
28
29	Section 1.  Paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section
30	222.21, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
31	222.21  Exemption of pension money and certain tax-exempt
32	funds or accounts from legal processes.-
33	(2)
34	(c)  Any money or other assets or any interest in any fund
35	or account that is are exempt from claims of creditors of the
36	owner, beneficiary, or participant under paragraph (a) does do
37	not cease to be exempt after the owner's death to qualify for
38	exemption by reason of a direct transfer or eligible rollover
39	that is excluded from gross income under s. 402(c) of the
40	Internal Revenue Code of 1986, including, but not limited to, a
41	direct transfer or eligible rollover to an inherited individual
42	retirement account as defined in s. 408(d)(3) of the Internal
43	Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. This paragraph is intended to
44	clarify existing law, is remedial in nature, and shall have
45	retroactive application to all inherited individual retirement
46	accounts without regard to the date an account was created.
47	Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.