Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., N/K/A Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC; And Doug Wilson v. Evan Connoly Bettis and Megan Marie Bettis, Trustees of the Victor L. Bettis Living Trust

── Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., N/K/A Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC; And Doug Wilson v. Evan Connoly Bettis and Megan Marie Bettis, Trustees of the Victor L. Bettis Living Trust ── Court: Court of Appeals of Arkansas Date: April 29, 2026 Category: General Cite as 2026 Ark. App. 256 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION II No. CV-24-732 AMERIPRISE FINANCIAL SERVICES, Opinion Delivered April 29, 2026 INC., N/K/A AMERIPRISE FINANCIAL APPEAL FROM THE PULASKI SERVICES, LLC; AND DOUG WILSON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, FOURTH APPELLANTS DIVISION [NO. 60CV-20-4516] V. HONORABLE HERBERT WRIGHT, EVAN CONNOLY BETTIS AND JUDGE MEGAN MARIE BETTIS, TRUSTEES OF THE VICTOR L. BETTIS LIVING TRUST AFFIRMED APPELLEES RAYMOND R. ABRAMSON, Judge Appellants Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., n/k/a Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC (“Ameriprise”); and Doug Wilson (“Wilson”) bring this interlocutory appeal from the July 22, 2024 order of the Pulaski County Circuit Court denying their countermotion to compel arbitration. On appeal, Ameriprise and Wilson argue (1) tort claims are subject to arbitration when the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) applies; (2) appellees are bound by the arbitration provisions of a contract as third-party beneficiaries; and (3) appellees’ claims arise from a contractual agreement and do not sound in tort. We affirm. I. Background  On March 18, 2020, Victor Bettis established the Victor L. Bettis Living Trust. Prior to the creation of the trust, Victor owned an Ameriprise IRA account. Gina Bettis, Victor’s wife, was the named beneficiary of Victor’s IRA account. Pursuant to the terms of the trust, however, Victor’s IRA was to become an asset of the trust. Victor’s children, Evan Connoly Bettis and Megan Marie Bettis (“Trustees”) allege that a “Tax-Qualified Accounts Designation” changed the beneficiary of Victor’s IRA from Gina to the Victor L. Bettis Living Trust and was forwarded by Victor’s estate-planning attorney to Wilson, the Ameriprise representative, for processing. They further allege that Ameriprise negligently failed to timely process the beneficiary-change request before Victor’s death on July 8, 2020. As a result of such negligence, Gina—rather than Victor’s trust—remained the beneficiary when Victor died. On August 17, Evan and Megan filed suit as the Trustees of the Victor L. Bettis Living Trust against Ameriprise and Wilson. In their complaint, they allege that they are the successor Trustees of the Victor L. Bettis Living Trust, which became irrevocable upon Victor’s death. Appellees assert a claim against Ameriprise and Wilson for their negligence in not timely processing the change-of-beneficiary form. On October 29, 2020, Ameriprise filed its third-party complaint and counterclaim for interpleader against Gina. After Victor’s death on July 8, the proceeds of Victor’s IRA were used to fund Gina’s IRA. Ameriprise alleged that Gina’s IRA ownership conflicts with the Trustees’ contention that Ameriprise and its representative were negligent. Even though the Trustees assert neither a claim against Gina nor a claim to Gina’s IRA, Ameriprise 2 contends that the Trustees and Gina have conflicting claims to the funds in Gina’s IRA, and Ameriprise should therefore be permitted to interplead Gina’s IRA and be absolved from further liability to Gina for her IRA. On November 19, Gina filed a motion to compel Ameriprise and Wilson to arbitrate their claims. On December 3, Ameriprise and Wilson filed a countermotion to compel arbitration as to all parties. Following a hearing, the circuit court initially denied Gina’s motion and did not rule on Ameriprise and Wilson’s countermotion. Gina timely