Contesting life insurance beneficiary: Can it be done?

by Guest » Sun Nov 04, 2007 01:17 pm
Guest

My brothers 19 year old son just got killed in an auto accident. We think he had his 19 year old girlfriend ( that he planned to marry someday)as beneficiary on life ins. through his company. Can his parents think of contesting life insurance beneficiary and what are their chances?

Total Comments: 133

Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 02:42 pm Post Subject:

My dad had a small insurance policy with his deceased wife as beneficiary.

Can't pay money to a dead person.

who does the benefit go to, his children or deceased wifes children.

You've left out one important piece of information: when did the wife die?
If the wife died before your father and he never changed the beneficiary statement, then the money will be paid to your father's estate. What happens to it there is up to the Probate Court. It will be available first to pay estate expenses, such as debts, funeral expense, taxes, and if anything remains once all those are paid, then your father's heirs will share according to state probate law.
Normally, this means children and grandchildren first, parents second if no children or grandchildren, and other relatives beyond that under certain circumstances.

Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 12:20 pm Post Subject:

She is not married to him so it is difficult to continue, I think insurance goes to their parents.

Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 03:58 pm Post Subject:

She is not married to him so it is difficult to continue,

What exactly does this mean? A person does not have to be married to someone else to be a life insurance beneficiary.

I think insurance goes to their parents.

It's best not to guess where the life insurance money goes when you don't know what you're talking about in the first place.

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 06:44 am Post Subject: value of life insurance

My father recently passed away. He had a life insurance policy from work that was worth $54,000. The insurance company has now said that the policy is only worth $16,200. They said that the amount was reduced for each year after he retired. I have never heard of this. Is this common? What can I do about getting the amount that my father wanted my brother and I to have?

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 03:57 am Post Subject:

Please contact me for assistance. What has occurred may be legitimate or not.

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 01:06 am Post Subject: I was name the primary beneficiary

Hello There!

My ex-husband and I were married, we put each other as beneficiary when we was working, years past away, we got divorce in friendly matter, however he never change the beneficiary name in his policy, the older sister is not to happy about it, not sure what she will do.

However the life Insurance Company called me that I'm the Beneficiary, also till his death I was with him every night.

You you give me some advice?

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 02:31 am Post Subject:

Depends on the state. If you are the same person who posted a similar question and live in Pennsylvania, you were most likely revoked as the beneficiary of your ex-husband's policy, and he was revoked as your beneficiary by operation of state law.
The exception is for policies issued by employer-sponsored plans which are exempt from state law under ERISA. In that case, the Summary Plan Document will control the beneficiary question.

Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 12:59 am Post Subject: Contesting life insurance beneficiary

My husband died at the end of January. We were going through a divorce - 14 months into the process with a trial date set and he died (he had severe health issues so it wasn't a total surprise). There was a temporary order in place stating that he (and I) was to maintain all life insurance policies and not change beneficiaries during divorce proceedings. At that time, I believe I was the sole beneficiary of the policy.

He lost his job in May and then converted his employer coverage to an individual policy (thank goodness) but then named my two minor children as the sole beneficiaries, which he did not disclose to the court. We live in Wisconsin, a marital property/community property state and all life insurance premiums since the conversion were paid with marital assets.

We are going through the process of trying to get the court to issue a declaratory judgement to restore me as primary beneficiary to the policy. This should be a "slam dunk", right?

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 01:17 am Post Subject:

This should be a "slam dunk", right?

Not quite. As a spouse in a community property state, at best you would be entitled to half of the death benefit. Your husband was entitled to name anyone as his beneficiary. Your community property interest extends only to 50% of the policy as property paid for with community assets. If the court understands this the children would each receive 25% of the death benefit.
For what it's worth, it's a good thing he died during the divorce, otherwise you would be suing your children. (You may still be.)

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 04:45 pm Post Subject: life insurance-massachusetts

Is life insurance payout public record in Massachusetts?

Add your comment

Enter the characters shown in the image.
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.