McMullen

Under California law, assets held in private retirement plans are fully exempt from execution, both before and after distribution to the judgment debtor. (Code Civ. Proc., § 704.115, subds. (b), (d).) Individual retirement accounts (IRA’s), however, are exempt only to the extent “necessary to provide for the support of the judgment debtor when the judgment debtor retires and for the support of the spouse and dependents of the judgment debtor, taking into account all resources that are likely to be available for the support of the judgment debtor when the judgment debtor retires.” (§ 704.115, subd. (e).) In this appeal, we must decide which exemption under section 704.115 applies to assets that were rolled over from a fully exempt private retirement plan into an IRA—the full exemption for private retirement plans under section 704.115, subdivisions (b) and (d), or the limited exemption for IRA’s under subdivision (e).

Appellant judgment debtor Don H. Haycock appeals from a postjudgment order that applied the limited exemption under subdivision (e) of section 704.115 to the assets that were rolled over from his fully exempt private retirement plan into an IRA. Haycock…