(2-706) Life insurance - Retirement plan - Account with payable on death designation - Transfer-on-death registration - Deceased beneficiary
N.D. Cent. Code § 30.1-09.1-06
in effect30.1-09.1-06. (2-706) Life insurance - Retirement plan - Account with payable on death
designation - Transfer-on-death registration - Deceased beneficiary.
1. In this section:
a. "Alternative beneficiary designation" means a beneficiary designation that is
expressly created by the governing instrument and, under the terms of the
governing instrument, can take effect instead of another beneficiary designation
on the happening of one or more events, including survival of the decedent or
failure to survive the decedent, whether an event is expressed in
condition-precedent, condition-subsequent, or any other form.
b. "Beneficiary" means the beneficiary of a beneficiary designation under which the
beneficiary must survive the decedent and includes a class member if the
beneficiary designation is in the form of a class gift and includes an individual or
class member who was deceased at the time the beneficiary designation was
executed as well as an individual or class member who was then living but who
failed to survive the decedent, but excludes a joint tenant of a joint tenancy with
the right of survivorship and a party to a joint and survivorship account.
c. "Beneficiary designation" includes an alternative beneficiary designation and a
beneficiary designation in the form of a class gift.
d. "Class member" includes an individual who fails to survive the decedent but who
would have taken under a beneficiary designation in the form of a class gift had
the individual survived the decedent.
e. "Descendant of a grandparent", as used in subsection 2, means an individual
who qualifies as a descendant of a grandparent of the decedent under the rules
of construction applicable to a class gift created in the decedent's beneficiary
designation if the beneficiary designation is in the form of a class gift or rules for
intestate succession if the beneficiary designation is not in the form of a class gift.
f. "Descendants", as used in the phrase "surviving descendants" of a deceased
beneficiary or class member in subdivisions a and b of subsection 2, mean the
descendants of a deceased beneficiary or class member who would take under a
class gift created in the beneficiary designation.
g. "Stepchild" means a child of the decedent's surviving, deceased, or former
spouse, and not of the decedent.
h. "Surviving" in the phrase "surviving beneficiary" or "surviving descendant" means
a beneficiary or a descendant who neither predeceased the decedent nor is
deemed to have predeceased the decedent under section 30.1-09.1-02.
2. If a beneficiary fails to survive the decedent and is a grandparent, a descendant of a
grandparent, or a stepchild of the decedent, the following apply:
a. Except as provided in subdivision d, if the beneficiary designation is not in the
form of a class gift and the deceased beneficiary leaves surviving descendants, a
substitute gift is created in the beneficiary's surviving descendants. They take by
representation the property to which the beneficiary would have been entitled had
the beneficiary survived the decedent.
b. Except as provided in subdivision d, if the beneficiary designation is in the form of
a class gift, other than a beneficiary designation to "issue", "descendants", "heirs
of the body", "heirs", "next of kin", "relatives", "family", or a class described by
language of similar import, a substitute gift is created in the surviving
descendants of any deceased beneficiary. The property to which the beneficiaries
would have been entitled had all of them survived the decedent passes to the
surviving beneficiaries and the surviving descendants of the deceased
beneficiaries. Each surviving beneficiary takes the share to which the surviving
beneficiary would have been entitled had the deceased beneficiaries survived the
decedent. Each deceased beneficiary's surviving descendants who are
substituted for the deceased beneficiary take by representation the share to
which the deceased beneficiary would have been entitled had the deceased
beneficiary survived the decedent. For the purposes of this subdivision,
"deceased beneficiary" means a class member who failed to survive the
decedent and left one or more surviving descendants.
c. For purposes of section 30.1-09.1-01, words of survivorship, such as in a
beneficiary designation to an individual "if the individual survives me", or in a
beneficiary designation to "my surviving children", are not, in the absence of
additional evidence, a sufficient indication of an intent contrary to the application
of this section.
d. If a governing instrument creates an alternative beneficiary designation with
respect to a beneficiary designation for which a substitute gift is created by
subdivision a or b, the substitute gift is superseded by the alternative beneficiary
designation if:
(1) The alternative beneficiary designation is in the form of a class gift and one
or more members of the class is entitled to take; or
(2) The alternative beneficiary designation is not in the form of a class gift and
the expressly designated beneficiary of the alternative beneficiary
designation is entitled to take.
3. If, under subsection 2, substitute gifts are created and not superseded with respect to
more than one beneficiary designation, and the beneficiary designations are
alternative beneficiary designations, one to the other, the determination of which of the
substitute gifts takes effect is resolved as follows:
a. Except as provided in subdivision b, the property passes under the primary
substitute gift.
b. If there is a younger-generation beneficiary designation, the property passes
under the younger-generation substitute gift and not under the primary substitute
gift.
c. In this subsection:
(1) "Primary beneficiary designation" means the beneficiary designation that
would have taken effect had all the deceased beneficiaries of the alternative
beneficiary designations who left surviving descendants survived the
decedent.
(2) "Primary substitute gift" means the substitute gift created with respect to the
primary beneficiary designation.
(3) "Younger-generation beneficiary designation" means a beneficiary
designation that is to a descendant of a beneficiary of the primary
beneficiary designation, is an alternative beneficiary designation with
respect to the primary beneficiary designation, is a beneficiary designation
for which a substitute gift is created, and would have taken effect had all the
deceased beneficiaries who left surviving descendants survived the
decedent except the deceased beneficiary or beneficiaries of the primary
beneficiary designation.
(4) "Younger-generation substitute gift" means the substitute gift created with
respect to the younger-generation beneficiary designation.
4. a. A payer is protected from liability in making payments under the terms of the
beneficiary designation until the payer has received written notice of a claim to a
substitute gift under this section. Payment made before the receipt of written
notice of a claim to a substitute gift under this section discharges the payer, but
not the recipient, from all claims for the amounts paid. A payer is liable for a
payment made after the payer has received written notice of the claim. A recipient
is liable for a payment received, whether or not written notice of the claim is
given.
b. The written notice of the claim must be mailed to the payer's main office or home
by registered mail, return receipt requested, or served upon the payer in the
same manner as a summons in a civil action. Upon receipt of written notice of the
claim, a payer may pay any amount owed by it to the court having jurisdiction of
the probate proceedings relating to the decedent's estate or, if no proceedings
have been commenced, to the court having jurisdiction of probate proceedings
relating to decedents' estates located in the county of the decedent's residence.
The court shall hold the funds and, upon its determination under this section,
shall order disbursement in accordance with the determination. Payment made to
the court discharges the payer from all claims for the amounts paid.
5. a. A person who purchases property for value and without notice, or who receives a
payment or other item of property in partial or full satisfaction of a legally
enforceable obligation, is neither obligated under this section to return the
payment, item of property, or benefit nor is liable under this section for the
amount of the payment or the value of the item of property or benefit. But a
person who, not for value, receives a payment, item of property, or any other
benefit to which the person is not entitled under this section is obligated to return
the payment, item of property, or benefit, or is personally liable for the amount of
the payment or the value of the item or property or benefit, to the person who is
entitled to it under this section.
b. If this section or any part of this section is preempted by federal law with respect
to a payment, an item of property, or any other benefit covered by this section, a
person who, not for value, receives the payment, item of property, or any other
benefit to which the person is not entitled under this section is obligated to return
the payment, item of property, or benefit, or is personally liable for the amount of
the payment or the value of the item of property or benefit, to the person who
would have been entitled to it were this section or part of this section not
pre-empted.
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t30-1c09-1.pdf#nameddest=30p1-09p1-06Fetched: 10/16/2026