§ 32-17-14-27 — Powers and duties of a transferring entity

(a) An owner who makes arrangements for
a transfer on death transfer under this chapter gives to the transferring
entity the protections provided in this section for executing the owner's
beneficiary designation.
(b) A transferring entity may execute a transfer on death transfer
with or without a written request for execution.
(c) A transferring entity may rely and act on:
(1) a certified or authenticated copy of a death certificate issued
by an official or an agency of the place where the death occurred
as showing the fact, place, date, and time of death and the identity
of the decedent; and
(2) a certified or authenticated copy of a report or record of any
governmental agency that a person is missing, detained, dead, or
alive, and the dates, circumstances, and places disclosed by the
record or report.
(d) A transferring entity has no duty to verify the information
contained within a written request for the execution of a beneficiary
designation. The transferring entity may rely and act on a request made
by a beneficiary or a beneficiary's attorney in fact, guardian,
conservator, or other agent.
(e) A transferring entity has no duty to:
(1) except as provided in subsection (g), give notice to any person
of the date, manner, and persons to whom a transfer will be made
under beneficiary designation;
(2) attempt to locate any beneficiary or lineal descendant
substitute;
(3) determine whether a nonsurviving beneficiary or descendant
had a lineal descendant who survived the owner;
(4) locate a trustee or custodian;
(5) obtain the appointment of a successor trustee or custodian;
(6) discover the existence of a trust instrument or will that creates
an express trust; or
(7) determine any fact or law that would:
(A) cause the beneficiary designation to be revoked in whole or
in part as to any person because of a change in marital status or
other reason; or
(B) cause a variation in the distribution provided in the
beneficiary designation.
(f) A transferring entity has no duty to withhold making a transfer
based on knowledge of any fact or claim adverse to the transfer to be
made unless before making the transfer the transferring entity receives
a written notice that:
(1) in manner, place, and time affords a reasonable opportunity to
act on the notice before making the transfer; and
(2) does the following:
(A) Asserts a claim of beneficial interest in the transfer adverse
to the transfer to be made.
(B) Gives the name of the claimant and an address for
communications directed to the claimant.
(C) Identifies the deceased owner.
(D) States the nature of the claim as it affects the transfer.
(g) If a transferring entity receives a timely notice meeting the
requirements of subsection (f), the transferring entity may discharge
any duty to the claimant by sending a notice by certified mail to the
claimant at the address provided by the claimant's notice of claim. The
notice must advise the claimant that a transfer adverse to the claimant's
asserted claim will be made at least forty-five (45) days after the date
of the mailing unless the transfer is restrained by a court order. If the
transferring entity mails the notice described by this subsection to the
claimant, the transferring entity shall withhold making the transfer for
at least forty-five (45) days after the date of the mailing. Unless the
transfer is restrained by court order, the transferring entity may make
the transfer at least forty-five (45) days after the date of the mailing.
(h) Neither notice that does not comply with the requirements of
subsection (f) nor any other information shown to have been available
to a transferring entity, its transfer agent, or its employees affects the
transferring entity's right to the protections provided by this chapter.
(i) A transferring entity is not responsible for the application or use
of property transferred to a fiduciary entitled to receive the property.
(j) Notwithstanding the protections provided a transferring entity by
this chapter, a transferring entity may require parties engaged in a
dispute over the propriety of a transfer to:
(1) adjudicate their respective rights; or
(2) furnish an indemnity bond protecting the transferring entity.
(k) A transfer by a transferring entity made in accordance with this
chapter and under the beneficiary designation in good faith and
reliance on information the transferring entity reasonably believes to be
accurate discharges the transferring entity from all claims for the
amounts paid and the property transferred.
(l) All protections provided by this chapter to a transferring entity
are in addition to the protections provided by any other applicable
Indiana law.

Legislative History

As added by P.L.143-2009, SEC.41. Amended by P.L.149-2012, SEC.16.