Opinion ID: 3064446
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Profit-sharing plans designed and used for

Text: retirement purposes. 7 To the extent that the BAP suggested that the review was purely one of fact, it was incorrect. 2142 IN THE MATTER OF SIMPSON (3) Self-employed retirement plans and individual retirement annuities or accounts provided for in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Id. § 704.115(a). [9] The statute does not indicate that whether an asset is “designed and used for retirement purposes” has any bearing on whether it constitutes a “private retirement plan” under section 704.115(b). Rather, if the annuity does not meet any of the statutory definitions for private retirement plan, it is not exempt under the statute. Single-premium annuities do not qualify categorically as private retirement plans under the statute. [10] We reject Simpson’s argument that the California Supreme Court would interpret the provision broadly to include assets acquired by the individual outside of an employment-related retirement plan. While the California Supreme Court has not expressly held that the statute limits “private retirement plans” to those “established or maintained” by an employer, it has applied the exemption only to such plans. See, e.g., Mejia v. Reed, 74 P.3d 166, 174 (Cal. 2003) (construing the exemption in the context of a formal retirement account accumulated through a medical practice). [11] Because the California Supreme Court has not had occasion to consider this issue, we look to the holdings of California’s intermediate appellate courts as indicative of how the highest court would decide this issue. Klein v. United States, 537 F.3d 1027, 1032 (9th Cir. 2008). A survey of recent California Court of Appeal cases construing the statute does not reveal a single instance in which that court has interpreted section 704.115(a)(1) to include independent retirement investments. See, e.g., McMullen v. Haycock, 54 Cal. Rptr. 3d 660 (Ct. App. 2007) (funds held through an employer); Schwartzman v. Wilshinsky, 57 Cal. Rptr. 2d 790 (Ct. App. 1996) (plan established by debtor’s employer); IN THE MATTER OF SIMPSON 2143 Yaesu Elecs. Corp. v. Tamura, 33 Cal. Rptr. 2d 283 (Ct. App. 1994) (funds derived from a “defined benefit pension plan”). Given these holdings, we do not believe that California would conclude that a single-premium annuity would qualify categorically under California law as a private retirement plan.