by Guest » Mon Jul 05, 2010 03:42 pm
Hello world, I have a question for everyone my cousin recently passed and I was the insurance beneficary for his policy. I think that his sister will try to contest it. Well I still be able to get the check and pay for the funeral and other debts that he had left. He was a hospice patient and he did pass in my home.
Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 09:12 pm Post Subject:
Normally, the sister would have no grounds to contest you being named the beneficiary. Unless she could prove somehow that the deceased named you as the beneficiary under duress (that is to say, at gunpoint or similar threat) or that the deceased passed by other than natural causes, you should have no issue with receiving the policy proceeds as stipulated in the insurance contract.
How *fast* you receive this is another matter. Typically, small final expense policies can pay out within 48 hours of the insurance company's receipt of the death certificate. Larger policies - generally $50,000 and over - may take some time longer for processing even if nothing is contested, simply because the insurance company will do due diligence to ensure that there were no abnormal circumstances.
Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 12:07 am Post Subject:
Who owned the policy? If it was you, slim to none chance she'll successfully contest it.
If you didn't own it, how long where you beneficiary? You stated that you were caring for him when he died, this helps you.
Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 05:56 am Post Subject: I made a stupid Mistake!
I took out a policy on my mother when I was 24 years old(10 years ago)I was thinking of myself as being her child so where it said "Beneficiary" I circled child. During the past 10 years I have paid every premium & My mother also left me as her sole executrix of her Estate via her last will & testament.
She created that will for the simple fact that my (8) other brothers & sisters where not to be trusted,half of them are crack heads,Prostitutes,& alcoholics.(Sad but true)
Long story short,after her passing I contacted "Gerber" & they sent me a form stating " Beneficiary" to be paid in equal shares to all surviving children" You could only imagine my SHOCK! after paying for this small $7000.00
policy....This was just simply a oversight a human error made by me at the age of 24 & I only found out about the error after my dear Mother had passed away.
Already my so called brothers & sisters are calling Gerber doing there best to put a claim on this policy,they are rightfully due nothing but,I know legally due to MY stupid error the small policy I paid for will be stolen from me by drug users & common street trash (by choice)
Is there any way on earth I could contest this?
I have every receit,I have the last will stating my name only. & my mom even made a foot note inside the original policy stating "completed for Shannon 2/7/01(as she indeed knew all about the policy I had taken out on her & was happy about it.
I could go on for days about how messed up this is,question is do I have any legal grounds to a policy I paid for?
Thank you,Shannon.
Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 12:26 pm Post Subject: insurance
(I think this ws a double post. It was also on another thread.) It seems like when Insurance polices 'come into play', you have people (relatives,etc.) coming out of the wood work...claiming something they may NOT be owed. It IS sad why people do this. I've seen this, time and again, concerning my 'clients'.
Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 12:35 pm Post Subject:
On the Gerber Life final expense application, it's pretty clear that they make a provision to have a sole beneficiary if desired. Note their wording:
"BENEFICIARY: Unless otherwise requested, the beneficiary shall be my spouse at the date of this application, if surviving; otherwise, all my children in equal shares." After this, there is a blank for a write-in beneficiary.
Shannon, I am assuming you circled "child" below the write-in but did not fill in your name as the beneficiary. In the absence of a specific beneficiary, it's pretty clear that the named beneficiaries are "all...children in equal shares". Since there are beneficiaries to the policy, the proceeds will NOT be considered part of your mother's estate and despite your opinion of your siblings, you will NOT be able to intercept or redirect these funds as the executrix of said estate.
Could you challenge this? Sure, you can always find a young estate lawyer willing to get paid for a couple hours of work. Would you win? Very likely not, and you'd probably lose whatever proceeds you'll get from the policy in payment to counsel.
I wish I had better news, but there was more than one error here that you made. Not filling out the beneficiary was only the first. Not reviewing your policy for accuracy was just as big an error, especially as you bought direct and didn't have an agent to ensure your contract was written as intended. (There's a reason why we agents get commission - because our services are worth something.) You had years to correct this - all the years your mother was living and competent to change the beneficiary.
I regret to tell you this is probably an expensive lesson learned. If there's any comfort to be had, just be glad the policy was only $7,000 and not $700,000. See if you can agree with your brothers and sisters that the proceeds will be used as intended, to offset final expenses. Sounds like a longshot, but if they knew you were the only one making payments to the policy, maybe we can hope that decency or guilt will finally kick in.
Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 05:09 am Post Subject:
Where money and families come together, there is often a parting of the ways. My wife's cousin died intestate over 16 months ago, and the estate will finally settle next month. One of the extended family's cousins called the executor cousin about three weeks after the death to ask, "So . . . when will I be getting my money?" It became the inside family joke.
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