by ddempsey » Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:01 pm
My father passed away and had listed his children as the beneficiary of his Life insurance policy. The policy was from 1986 and he was not married at the time took out the policy. He was married at the time of his passing. Who would the benefits go to in this case in the state of AZ? His wife as AZ being a community property state or the children listed as the beneficiaries?
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:08 am Post Subject:
The money is going to go to the children unless we are missing something here. She can file a claim, but without being the beneficiary, the insurance company won't give her the money.
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:59 am Post Subject:
The adult children / listed beneficiaries are wondering what rights they have versus the rights of the 3rd wife who was married to the father for approximately 15 years.
Unless there is some crazy law or claus in this life policy (doubt it)...she doesn't have a claim...she can file a protest, but I don't see how she'd win...unless Dad has some will or notarized statement somewhere that says, in the event of his death, and he didn't have time, or neglected to change the beneficarys on any and all policys to his present wife. I don't even know that, this would do it for her, and it's highly unlikely anyway.Why is she protesting this anyway? Did he not leave her another policy or other money to live on?
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 02:14 am Post Subject:
Will won't matter. The only chance she'd have at contesting this successfully would be a request to change the beneficiary to prove that it was in process but never completed; even at that point it's a tough fight.
Like insuranceexpert stated, unless there is another piece to this that we don't know, this money is going to be paid to the children, the named beneficiaries in the policy, at is contractually required, and as should be the case if all the facts are as we've come to know them.
Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 01:55 am Post Subject:
We just want to say thank you to all the people who posted. We agree with all the posts and there are no other hidden circumstances or pieces to this issue. We were confused by the fact that the insurance company accepted a claim for the policy from the wife.
When we spoke with the insurance company, they said that anyone, absolutely any person, can file a claim against the policy and the insurance company must go through due process to determine eligibility.
The only motivation of the wife that we know of is greed. Yes Lori, she made extreme profits from the marriage and his death. The children have recieved no assets or belongings from their father at this point.
This was a policy that the children did not know existed. When the wife filed a claim against the policy shortly after his death, she found out that she was not the beneficiary of this single policy. The dad's former employer contacted the children, but since the wife had originally filed the claim, the insurance company said they must follow due process. We are confused as to why, if she has no rights to the policy, she can delay and appeal to keep the process unresolved? We posted this because we are wondering if there are any laws that would override the listed beneficiaries of a life insurance policy. We honestly appreciate the comments and feel more comfortable with the process and empowered to make some phone calls if necessary.
Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 02:58 am Post Subject:
Good to hear, hopefully soon you and your siblings will be in receipt of the benefit.
Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:58 am Post Subject:
if she has no rights to the policy, she can delay and appeal to keep the process unresolved?
No, like they told you they have to go thru their process, but they'll reach a decision, and stand by that, short of her getting some type of legal injunction halting it..I think they'll pay it out. Now, that you all know about it, you've filed a claim with this carrier as the rightful beneficarys correct? If not you need to ask them what you need to do to accomplish this...We posted this because we are wondering if there are any laws that would override the listed beneficiaries of a life insurance policy.
None, that anyone here seems to know of, there are some 'work' life policys, that I've had personal experience with that have a few "different" little hick ups to them, but these NEVER pertained to the children being listed as bene. only an ex-wife vs. current wife scenerio...that wouldn't affect you all...We honestly appreciate the comments and feel more comfortable with the process and empowered to make some phone calls if necessary.
I speak for all when I say that's great, and why we all invest our time here...If you don't mind, once this straightens out come back and let us know how things turned out (rarely do we get to hear 'the end of the story' :wink: ) And most certainly if any other questions come up don't hesitate to ask..In all this mess I think I neglected to say, that I'm very sorry for your family's loss of your Daddy.
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