Contesting a Life Insurance Beneficiary

by rooter » Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:57 am
Posts: 1
Joined: 31 Oct 2009

My mother recently passed away. There are 4 surviving siblings. Only 1 of the children was been named sole beneficiary of her life insurance policy. We believe this was not her intention for number of reasons; her will states the estate should be divided equally amongst the children, the underwriter of the policy was a close friend of the beneficiary, and we have discovered her finances have been misappropriated. We were all very close to her and cannot believe what has happened. What are our chances of contesting the beneficiary successfully?

Total Comments: 4

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 02:43 am Post Subject:

What are our chances of contesting the beneficiary successfully?



Hi, and welcome to the forum. Unfortunately, I have some likely bad news for you.

It's extremely uncommon that a life insurance beneficiary designation can be altered or overturned through a will. There is ample state and case law supporting this, and I'm sorry that I have to be the one to let you know.

The exceptions would be rare. They include things like beneficiary changes made after a person has been declared legally incompetent, changes made under duress or threat, things like that. The courts have repeatedly held that life insurance beneficiary designations are pretty much absolute and considered to stand on their own; considered legally separate and binding and not conditioned on changes in a last will and testament.

Now, I am certainly no attorney and would never profess to know every law in every state in every situation. Do NOT consider this legal advice...I'm simply referencing existing case law, etc. If you have any thoughts that there may be something going on that shouldn't be with this whole thing, then my advice would be to seek legal counsel. For more good information, there are numerous threads devoted to this- here's a link to the life insurance forum:

http://www.ampminsure.org/life/index.html


Just scroll down for a while and you'll see all sorts of posts. Please let us know if you have any other questions or if my response made you think of anything else that may apply here. Good luck with this.

InsTeacher 8)

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:23 pm Post Subject: insurance

Isn't it written, ALMOST like a 'contradicting' thing.......there is only ONE beneficiary, but, the Will states that the 'property will be divided equally'? Shouldn't that be SOME kind of proof that SOMETHING was tampered with? I hope my question is clear.

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 12:44 am Post Subject:

Nope b/c Wills and beneficiary designations are considered completely different, and beneficiary designations always trump directives in a Will.

This has become especially difficult when the deseased has an IRA, variable annuity, etc. and has named a beneficiary, but also claims the funds are to go to a different person or be distributed differently in a Will. The beneficiary designation stands.

A good public service announcement out of this would be to check your beneficiary designations and make sure they are in line with your wishes. Lots of times, people never take a second look at this after establishing an account and all sorts of bad things happen.

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 05:41 am Post Subject:

Hey SD, good point-

Isn't it written, ALMOST like a 'contradicting' thing.......there is only ONE beneficiary, but, the Will states that the 'property will be divided equally'? Shouldn't that be SOME kind of proof that SOMETHING was tampered with? I hope my question is clear.



A lot of people don't understand that there are distinct legal differences between what a person does in their will and beneficiary designations in any life insurance, 401k, IRA etc. plans they have. Will instructions don't override beneficiary designations. I was a pro witness in a case that dealt with this thing, and the judge literally said to the plaintiff (who had filed suit to have the beneficiary designation overturned) "If he had wanted you to have the money, he would have named you the beneficiary. He didn't. Do you or your attorney have anything else?"

I busted up laughing and had to remember that I was in a courtroom and not watching some really bad TV drama.

I have a feeling that there was something slimy going on here...it's too easy to connect the dots in the OPs post. I hope the OP is still watching the thread and has pursued this through some sort of legal channel. We still don't know the whole story.

InsTeacher 8)

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