by Guest » Tue Aug 21, 2012 12:45 pm
My father passed away on 2/20/11. He had an annuity through Hartford. My brother is the beneficiary and is splitting the payments between the siblings. He text all of us saying Hartford sent him a letter stating that the payout in November, 2017 does not have to be paid to him, according to federal law, that they are only required to pay it out to my father. This does not sound legally right too me. I've tried to research this topic and have not found any law stating that the insurance company has a right to keep a final payout. Can someone please let me know what if anything I can do about this. Thank you.
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:09 am Post Subject:
Well, this sounds strangely like another post. And if it is related, now we have an important detail: This is an annuity, not life insurance.
But here, again, the "facts" are stated differently:
Hartford sent him a letter stating that the payout in November, 2017 does not have to be paid to him, according to federal law, that they are only required to pay it out to my father.
Again, there is no federal law involved here outside of ERISA and an employer-sponsored group annuity.
Something here does not sound right, yet could be entirely correct. And in order to give you a proper answer, I would need to both see the letter and some documentation concerning the annuity option that was selected, and by whom.
If this annuity were already in the distribution ("annuity") phase, it could be entirely true. If the annuity is holding qualified money (such as an IRA or 401(k)) what is true is that the full value of the annuity must be distributed over a maximum of five years to anyone other than the surviving spouse. That, too, sort of matches the time frame being discussed here.
But if your brother as beneficiary selected a "60 month" period certain annuity option (assuming your father was the annuitant), without knowing that it could mean leaving money in the hands of the insurance company, then a material fact was concealed or misrepresented and could be the basis for a legal action against the insurance company and/or its agent.
Please contact me (click on the link below) to discuss this in private. Everything could be on the up and up, or you could have a big case against the insurance company. One way or the other, I can probably tell you which one it is.
Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:08 am Post Subject:
Certain annuity issuers give the payout option known as "Life with Period Certain." For example: "Life with a 10-year Period Certain."
This mean that the annuity will guarantee payments for 10 years and will continue to pay after the initial 10-year period, but only to the annuitant if alive.
In other words, if the annuitant died five years into the settlement, the annuity would continue to pay the beneficiary for the next five years only.... the balance of the "certainty" period. The only way this could continue to pay after the 10 year guaranteed period would be to continue to pay the annuitant, and those payments would continue until the death of the annuitant.
InsTeacher 8)
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