by Guest » Sat Jul 17, 2010 05:57 pm
My father recently passed away and I have been told by my mother-in-law than my father's first wife(my mother were) was still named as beneficiary of my fathers insurance policies. My step-sister indicated that they were changing beneficiaries on the policies after he passed away. Is this legal?? Does the estate of my mother receive the insurance??
Just curious.
Just curious.
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 06:46 pm Post Subject:
My step-sister indicated that they were changing beneficiaries on the policies after he passed away. Is this legal??
ABSOLUTELY NOT LEGAL!! An attempt to do so would be unlawful.
Does the estate of my mother receive the insurance??
If the named beneficiary was never changed and that person predeceased the insured, the money is payable to the owner of the policy.
If your father was the owner of his policy (true about 95+% of the time), then the life insurance proceeds are payable to his estate, where it will first be subject to the claims of creditors long before any family member would be entitled to the money. If there is no will to direct the disposition of estate assets, a (probate) judge will make those decisions for all creditors and heirs.
Sad to say, this is a common sort of post on this topic. It is a sad reminder of the need to keep beneficiary statements up to date, which really means reviewing them annually in most cases. Doesn't mean it has to be changed or rewritten each year, but it's just a good practice to develop.
Could be done every January 1, on the policy anniversary date, a wedding anniversary date, or a birthday. It just needs to be done.
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 01:41 am Post Subject:
Could be done every January 1, on the policy anniversary date, a wedding anniversary date, or a birthday. It just needs to be done.
Yup, honey, we're going to need to push that dinner back, insurance guy is coming to make sure the insurance policy is all up to date. I'm sure in a lot of cases, you might want to name someone else the beneficiary if you said that to your wife, or else she'd collect on the that policy as soon as you were done and she was ensured the money was going to her.
Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 09:21 am Post Subject: vivacity insurance policy
My father was the 1st beneficiary and my mother 2nd. my mother died 6 years ago, and my father 2 years ago. my uncle (the insured) died last year.
Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 08:29 pm Post Subject:
If your uncle was the owner of the policy, the death benefit is payable to his estate in the absence of any living, named beneficiary.
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