My mother passed away and my brother is the sole beneficiary on three policies. Can I contest this? She had 4 childeren.
Total Comments: 6
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 12:30 am Post Subject:
You can...
What grounds do you have to contest it? This would certainly influence rather or not you'd win.
If the document is legit... then you'd certainly loose.
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 12:53 am Post Subject:
I guess besides the fact that it's terribly unfair, none. I had read somewhere that in cases like this that the judge has split it between the children. I'm in unfamiliar territory here.
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 03:11 am Post Subject:
No you cannot contest this and hope to win anything. Beneficiary designations stand, just because mom left 3 of the kids out and effectively disinherited them is not something the insurance company is likely to get involved with.
As far as taking legal action, thinking about what you'd be trying to accomplish. Suing the insurance company? It's a tort, and you must prove that they did something to hurt you. What did they do? They have no liability in this.
You'd then seek out legal action against your brother. Again, what did he do? Unless you can prove that he somehow schemed the beneficiary designation to be set to him and him alone, there's not much you could accomplish. And even in that situation, what exactly is your loss that suing your brother is supposed to rectify?
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 04:48 am Post Subject:
Unfair to who? You or your mother?
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 06:51 am Post Subject:
There is alot of history here, and I won't bore you with the details. Unfair to who? Of course unfair to the children that were actually there for her. Please understand that there are alot of emotions involved right now. Am I bitter? Yes. Feelings hurt? Yes. Shocked? Yes. My step-father actually said while she was laying there in the hospital dying, "My baby left me rich." This is what I'm having to deal with.
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 03:47 pm Post Subject:
I had read somewhere that in cases like this that the judge has split it between the children.
The "cases" you may have read about probably involved all minor children. In such cases, the court might have the ability to reapportion a death benefit left for one child by name to all children of the decedent under the theory that failure to name the more recently born children was an inadvertent oversight.
But in your case, your mother apparently understood the ramifications of her choice of beneficiary, since apparently all of her children are now adults. Would you have been even more upset if she named your stepfather her sole beneficiary instead? Or would you at least be relieved it was not your brother?
We can appreciate the emotions you may be experiencing, but where did you learn that anything about life is supposed to be "fair"? Was it "fair" that God threw Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden for failing to heed His instructions, condemning the rest of us to life on the outside?
You need to move on with your life. Perhaps some counseling is in order -- that's for you to decide. And when you get around to purchasing life insurance of your own, you can exclude your brother as one of your beneficiaries and perhaps achieve a measure of satisfaction of your own, counseling aside.
Perhaps you would like to speak to Dr. Laura about your emotional upset instead? Few of us would dispense any sympathy, as you have already read, for the right your mother had to name a beneficiary of her own choosing. That decision is more concrete than any provision in her last will and testament -- something you might have a better chance of successfully contesting.
Then again, the legal fees would probably "kill" you. So what is there to gain? Use the money for grief counseling instead.
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 12:30 am Post Subject:
You can...
What grounds do you have to contest it? This would certainly influence rather or not you'd win.
If the document is legit... then you'd certainly loose.
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 12:53 am Post Subject:
I guess besides the fact that it's terribly unfair, none. I had read somewhere that in cases like this that the judge has split it between the children. I'm in unfamiliar territory here.
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 03:11 am Post Subject:
No you cannot contest this and hope to win anything. Beneficiary designations stand, just because mom left 3 of the kids out and effectively disinherited them is not something the insurance company is likely to get involved with.
As far as taking legal action, thinking about what you'd be trying to accomplish. Suing the insurance company? It's a tort, and you must prove that they did something to hurt you. What did they do? They have no liability in this.
You'd then seek out legal action against your brother. Again, what did he do? Unless you can prove that he somehow schemed the beneficiary designation to be set to him and him alone, there's not much you could accomplish. And even in that situation, what exactly is your loss that suing your brother is supposed to rectify?
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 04:48 am Post Subject:
Unfair to who? You or your mother?
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 06:51 am Post Subject:
There is alot of history here, and I won't bore you with the details. Unfair to who? Of course unfair to the children that were actually there for her. Please understand that there are alot of emotions involved right now. Am I bitter? Yes. Feelings hurt? Yes. Shocked? Yes. My step-father actually said while she was laying there in the hospital dying, "My baby left me rich." This is what I'm having to deal with.
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 03:47 pm Post Subject:
I had read somewhere that in cases like this that the judge has split it between the children.
The "cases" you may have read about probably involved all minor children. In such cases, the court might have the ability to reapportion a death benefit left for one child by name to all children of the decedent under the theory that failure to name the more recently born children was an inadvertent oversight.
But in your case, your mother apparently understood the ramifications of her choice of beneficiary, since apparently all of her children are now adults. Would you have been even more upset if she named your stepfather her sole beneficiary instead? Or would you at least be relieved it was not your brother?
We can appreciate the emotions you may be experiencing, but where did you learn that anything about life is supposed to be "fair"? Was it "fair" that God threw Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden for failing to heed His instructions, condemning the rest of us to life on the outside?
You need to move on with your life. Perhaps some counseling is in order -- that's for you to decide. And when you get around to purchasing life insurance of your own, you can exclude your brother as one of your beneficiaries and perhaps achieve a measure of satisfaction of your own, counseling aside.
Perhaps you would like to speak to Dr. Laura about your emotional upset instead? Few of us would dispense any sympathy, as you have already read, for the right your mother had to name a beneficiary of her own choosing. That decision is more concrete than any provision in her last will and testament -- something you might have a better chance of successfully contesting.
Then again, the legal fees would probably "kill" you. So what is there to gain? Use the money for grief counseling instead.
Add your comment