Opinion ID: 221659
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Frozen IRA Accounts

Text: According to Texas law, IRA accounts are exempt from seizure. TEX. PROP.CODE § 42.0021(a). However, the party claiming the exemption must establish that she has a legal right to the funds in the IRA to be entitled to the exemption. Jones v. Am. Airlines, Inc., 131 S.W.3d 261, 270 (Tex.App.Fort Worth 2004, no pet.). It is undisputed that some of the frozen accounts are IRA accounts. The Employee Defendants had the burden of proving that they have a right to the funds in the accounts, particularly in light of the Receiver's extensive evidence that the Employee Defendants received these funds as a fraudulent transfer from the Stanford Ponzi scheme. The mere fact that an account is an IRA account does not automatically entitle the Employee Defendants to the exemption; it does not relieve the Employee Defendants of carrying the burden of proving they have a legal right to the account. Consequently, the district court did not err when it kept the IRA accounts frozen under the preliminary injunction.