Chapter 1709 | Uniform Transfer-on-death Security Registration Act

Section 1709.01 | Uniform transfer-on-death security registration act definitions.

• Effective: June 23, 1994
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 208 - 120th General Assembly

As used in sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code, unless the context otherwise requires:

(A) "Beneficiary form" means a registration of a security that indicates the present owner of the security and the intention of the present owner regarding the person who will become the owner of the security upon the death of the present owner.

(B) "Devisee" means any person designated in a will to receive a disposition of real or personal property.

(C) "Heirs" means those persons, including the surviving spouse of a decedent, who are entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of an intestate decedent, including, when applicable, section 2105.06 of the Revised Code.

(D) "Person" means an individual, a corporation, an organization, or other legal entity.

(E) "Personal representative" includes an executor, administrator, successor personal representative, special administrator, and persons who perform substantially the same function under the law governing their status.

(F) "Property" means anything that may be the subject of ownership, including, but not limited to, real and personal property and any interest in real or personal property.

(G) "Register," including its derivatives, means to issue a certificate showing the ownership of a certificated security or, in the case of an uncertificated security, to initiate or transfer an account showing ownership of that security.

(H) "Registering entity" means a person who originates or transfers a security title by registration and includes, but is not limited to, a financial institution maintaining security accounts for customers, a securities dealer or broker maintaining security accounts for customers, and a transfer agent or other person acting for or as an issuer of securities.

(I) "Security" has the same meaning as in division (B) of section 1707.01 of the Revised Code and includes, but is not limited to, a certificated security, an uncertificated security, and a security account.

(J) "Security account" means either of the following:

(1) A reinvestment account associated with a security; a securities account with a financial institution or a securities dealer or broker and any cash balance in a brokerage account with a financial institution or a securities dealer or broker; or cash, interest, earnings, or dividends earned or declared on a security in an account, a reinvestment account, or a brokerage account, whether or not credited to the account before the owner's death;

(2) A cash balance or other property held for or due to the owner of a security as a replacement for or product of an account security, whether or not credited to the account before the owner's death.

Section 1709.02 | Obtaining registration in beneficiary form.

• Effective: October 1, 1993
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 62 - 120th General Assembly

Only individuals whose registration of a security shows sole ownership by one individual or multiple ownership by two or more individuals with a right of survivorship, rather than ownership as tenants in common, may obtain registration in beneficiary form. Multiple owners of a security registered in beneficiary form hold as joint tenants with a right of survivorship and not as tenants in common.

Section 1709.03 | Reciprocity.

• Effective: October 1, 1993
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 62 - 120th General Assembly

A security may be registered in beneficiary form if the form is authorized by sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code or similar laws of the state of organization of its issuer or registering entity, the state in which the principal office of the registering entity is located, the state in which the office of the transfer agent or the office making the registration is located, or the state listed as the address of the owner at the time of registration. A registration governed by the laws of a jurisdiction in which a law similar to sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code is not in force or was not in force when a registration in beneficiary form was made is nevertheless presumed to be valid and authorized as a matter of contract law.

Section 1709.04 | When security is registered in beneficiary form.

• Effective: October 1, 1993
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 62 - 120th General Assembly

A security, whether evidenced by a certificate or account, is registered in beneficiary form when the registration includes a designation of a beneficiary to take the ownership of the security at the time of the death of the owner or the deaths of all multiple owners.

Section 1709.05 | Using transfer-on-death or TOD.

• Effective: October 1, 1993
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 62 - 120th General Assembly

Registration in beneficiary form may be shown by the words "transfer-on-death" or the abbreviation "TOD," after the name of the registered owner and before the name of a beneficiary.

Section 1709.06 | Effect of designation of transfer-on-death.

• Effective: October 1, 1993
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 62 - 120th General Assembly

The designation of a transfer-on-death beneficiary on a registration in beneficiary form has no effect on ownership until the death of the owner of a security. A registration in beneficiary form of a security may be canceled or changed at any time by the sole owner or all of the then surviving owners of the security, without the consent of the beneficiary.

Section 1709.07 | Death of sole owner or last to die of all multiple owners.

• Effective: October 1, 1993
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 62 - 120th General Assembly

Subject to the limitations of section 5731.39 of the Revised Code, on the death of a sole owner or the last to die of all multiple owners, ownership of a security registered in beneficiary form shall pass to the beneficiary or beneficiaries who survived all owners. On proof of death of all owners and compliance with any applicable requirements of the registering entity, but subject to the limitations of section 5731.39 of the Revised Code, a security registered in beneficiary form may be reregistered in the name of the beneficiary or beneficiaries who survived the death of all owners. Until division of the security after the death of all owners, multiple beneficiaries surviving the death of all owners hold their interests as tenants in common. If no beneficiary survives the death of all owners, the security shall be included in the estate of the deceased sole owner of it or the estate of the last to die of all multiple owners of it.

Section 1709.08 | Registering entity.

• Effective: October 1, 1993
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 62 - 120th General Assembly

(A) A registering entity is not required to offer or to accept requests for security registration in beneficiary form. If a registration in beneficiary form is offered by a registering entity, the owner requesting registration in beneficiary form assents to the protections given to the registering entity by sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code.

(B) By accepting a request for registration in beneficiary form of a security, a registering entity agrees that the registration will be implemented as provided in sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code.

(C) A registering entity is discharged from all claims to a security by the estate, creditors, heirs, or devisees of a deceased owner if it registers a transfer of a security in accordance with section 1709.07 of the Revised Code and does so in a good faith reliance on the registration, on sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code, and on information provided to it by an affidavit of the personal representative of the deceased owner or by the surviving beneficiary or the representatives of the surviving beneficiary or on other information available to the registering entity. The protections of sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code do not extend to a reregistration or payment made after a registering entity has received a written notice from any claimant to any interest in the security that objects to the implementation of a registration in beneficiary form. No other notice or other information available to the registering entity shall affect its right to protection under sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code.

(D) The protection provided by sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code to the registering entity of a security does not affect the rights of beneficiaries in disputes between themselves and other claimants to ownership of the security transferred or its value or proceeds.

Section 1709.09 | Transfer-on-death is not testamentary.

• Effective: October 1, 1993
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 62 - 120th General Assembly

(A) Any transfer-on-death resulting from a registration in beneficiary form is effective by reason of the contract regarding the registration between the owner of the security and the registering entity and by reason of sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code and is not testamentary.

(B) Sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code do not limit the rights of creditors of the owners of securities against beneficiaries and other transferees under other laws of this state.

Section 1709.10 | Establish terms and conditions.

• Effective: October 1, 1963
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 62 - 120th General Assembly

(A) A registering entity offering to accept registrations in beneficiary form may establish the terms and conditions under which it will receive and implement requests for registration in that form, including requests for cancellation of previously registered transfer-on-death beneficiary designations and requests for reregistration to effect a change of beneficiary. The terms and conditions so established may provide for proving death, avoiding or resolving any problems concerning fractional shares, designating primary and contingent beneficiaries, and substituting descendants of a named beneficiary to take in place of the named beneficiary when he dies.

(B) Substitution may be indicated by appending to the name of the primary beneficiary the letters "LDPS," standing for lineal descendants per stirpes. This designation substitutes the descendants of a deceased beneficiary who survive the owner of a security for a beneficiary who fails to so survive, the descendants to be identified and to share in accordance with the law of the domicile of the beneficiary, at the time of the death of the owner, governing inheritance by descendants of an intestate.

(C) Other forms of identifying beneficiaries who are to take on one or more contingencies, and rules for providing proofs and assurances needed to satisfy reasonable concerns by registering entities regarding conditions and identities relevant to accurate implementation of registrations in beneficiary form, may be contained in the terms and conditions of a registering entity.

Section 1709.11 | Uniform Transfer-on-Death Security Registration Act.

• Effective: October 1, 1993
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 62 - 120th General Assembly

(A) Sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code shall be known as and may be cited as the "uniform transfer-on-death security registration act."

(B) Sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code shall be liberally construed and applied to promote their underlying purposes and policy and to make uniform the laws with respect to the subject of those sections among states enacting similar laws.

(C) Unless displaced by particular provisions of sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code, the principles of law and equity supplement their provisions.

(D) Sections 1709.01 to 1709.11 of the Revised Code apply to registrations of securities in beneficiary form made prior to, on, or after the effective date of this section, by decedents dying prior to, on, or after that date.