Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 11478 – Ownership of account; transfer of ownership rights
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For all purposes of the laws of the State, the following provisions apply. [PL 1997, c. 732, §4 (NEW).]
1. Participant retains ownership. The participant retains ownership of all contributions and all program earnings credited to a participant’s account under a participation agreement up to the date of utilization for payment of higher education expenses and, notwithstanding any other provision of law, an amount credited to any account is not susceptible to levy, execution, judgment or other operation of law, garnishment or other judicial enforcement and the amount is not an asset or property of either the participant or the beneficiary for purposes of any state insolvency laws. Notwithstanding this subsection, an amount credited to the participant’s account may not be included in any gross estate of the participant for purposes of state tax law, except to the extent that the amount may be includable in any gross estate for purposes of federal tax law.
[PL 2021, c. 17, §6 (AMD).]
Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 11478
- Authority: means the Finance Authority of Maine, which serves as administrator of the Maine Education Savings Program. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 11471
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Beneficiary: means any person designated by a participation agreement to benefit from payments for higher education expenses. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 11471
- Contributions: means amounts deposited by a participant to an account within the program fund. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 11471
- Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Gross estate: The total fair market value of all property and property interests, real and personal, tangible and intangible, of which a decedent had beneficial ownership at the time of death before subtractions for deductions, debts, administrative expenses, and casualty losses suffered during estate administration.
- Higher education expenses: means the certified expenses for attendance at an institution of higher education as those expenses are defined by rule of the authority consistent with applicable provisions of the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and its regulations addressing qualified tuition programs. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 11471
- Institution of higher education: means an institution of higher education that meets the requirements established by rule of the authority consistent with applicable provisions of the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and its regulations addressing qualified tuition programs. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 11471
- Participant: means any person who has entered into a participation agreement pursuant to this chapter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 11471
- Participation agreement: means an agreement between a participant and the authority providing for the establishment by the participant of one or more accounts within the program fund and for the administration of those accounts for the benefit of the participant and of one or more beneficiaries. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 11471
- Program earnings: means all interest, dividends, premiums, fees, profits upon disposition of assets and other revenue actually received by or on behalf of the program with respect to any assets held within the program fund to which that asset may be credited, less all administrative costs of the program and the program fund, as periodically determined by the authority. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A Sec. 11471
2. Institution of higher education is owner upon payment. The institution of higher education obtains ownership of the amounts disbursed from an account to the institution of higher education with respect to the higher education expenses paid to the institution at the time each disbursement is made to the institution, subject to any applicable refund policy or other policies of the institution.
[PL 1997, c. 732, §4 (NEW).]
3. Transfer of ownership. A participant may transfer ownership rights to another eligible participant, including, but not limited to, a gift of the ownership rights to a minor beneficiary pursuant to Title 33, chapter 32; except that, notwithstanding any provision of Title 33, chapter 32, the transfer must be effected and the property distributed in accordance with rules adopted by the authority or the terms of the participation agreement.
[PL 1997, c. 732, §4 (NEW).]
3-A. Successor participants. A participant may designate another person as successor owner of the account in the event of the death or disability of the participant.
[PL 2001, c. 380, §3 (NEW).]
4. Jurisdictional effect. A person may not be deemed a resident of the State or be deemed as present in the State for jurisdictional purposes solely by reason of being a beneficiary or participant of an account.
[PL 1997, c. 732, §4 (NEW).]
5. Not security. A person may not pledge any interest in an account as security for a loan or other debt.
[PL 1997, c. 732, §4 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 1997, c. 732, §4 (NEW). PL 2001, c. 380, §3 (AMD). PL 2021, c. 17, §6 (AMD).