Contesting life insurance beneficiary: Can it be done?

by Guest » Sun Nov 04, 2007 01:17 pm
Guest

My brothers 19 year old son just got killed in an auto accident. We think he had his 19 year old girlfriend ( that he planned to marry someday)as beneficiary on life ins. through his company. Can his parents think of contesting life insurance beneficiary and what are their chances?

Total Comments: 133

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 08:48 am Post Subject: dad named his mom benefactor, she died leaving us nothing sh

my father died in 2000 and named his mother sole beneficiary since she was paying for the policy. Since she collected double the amount due to accidental death she received $250,000, I never saw a penny. My brother collected $13,000 I was a minor when he died, DNA was done proving me to be his son. My fathers mom offered to buy me a house which I refused, I only wanted a trust set up for my children. She died in 2011 without naming my brother or I in her will. The lady actually tricked me into living with her so she could take what little money I was receiving from his social security I know theres statutes on laws but since we were next of kin shouldn't we have received some of that insurance money? I live in Ohio and i'd like to know if its even worth fighting for. We got to watch our RICH relatives divide up her cash that pissed me off please reply A.S.A.P

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 02:42 pm Post Subject:

You are mixing apples and oranges. A death claim was paid in 2000. That money was paid to a person by name and it became her money to do with as she pleased. You say your brother "collected $13,000" but don't say why or how. But that's unimportant. It could have been a gift from grandmom to grandson, and she is entitled to do that. There is no legal requirement for gramdmoms to give equal gifts to anyone.

On the other hand, grandmom offered to buy you a home, which you refused. I assume the home was valued at more than $13,000, but you refused, saying you only wanted a trust set up for your children. Fine, you can refuse all you want, but you cannot compel grandmom to do anything else with her money. You could have taken the house, sold it, and set up your own trust fund for your children -- if this was truly about your children. But it's not.

Today, you are upset because grandmom died last year and did not name you in her will. She did not have to. You say grandmom "tricked" you into living with her to take "his social security" [for her own benefit]. There was no possibility that she used that money to provide you with food, shelter, clothing, school necessities, and spending money to do with as you pleased? Please be honest here.

As a minor, Social Security money cannot be paid to you, it can only be paid to a parent or guardian for your benefit. That person files an annual report detailing how they money was spent or saved. Well, at this late date, that's all water under the bridge. You might have had a fiduciary claim years ago, when you turned age 18, but you have obviously missed that by now. And you cannot bring an action like that against a dead person.

Then you ask:

since we were next of kin shouldn't we have received some of that insurance money?


And the answer to that is NO. A person may name anyone or anything as his or her beneficiary, to the exclusion of anyone else. No one can contest that absent a showing of coercion, or other unlawful act. But even if you could, it all happened 12 years ago, and that matter would no longer be actionable.

We got to watch our RICH relatives divide up her cash that pissed me off


For this, you need to seek professional mental health counseling. If grandmom left a will, your "rich relatives" did not divide anything . . . it was divided for them by grandmom. If grandmom had died without a will, you would have received something, because that's a provision of Probate Law.

I'm sorry you are "pissed off." But maybe grandmom had a reason not to include you in her will. Maybe you pissed her off by rejecting her offer to buy you a home. Did you ever think of that? She tried to do something nice for you and you slapped her in the face. In many ways, we only get one shot at things in life, and our future is determined, in large measure, by the choices we make.

There is no legal recourse here, and any attorney who says there is is simply going to take what little money you may have and leave you with nothing to show for it.

These are sour grapes, that you will have to enjoy or leave behind and get on with your life. Make a choice to find a good therapist and work out your challenges.

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:35 pm Post Subject:

Wow, very difficult situation. It is hard to contest beneficiaries when it is signed off by the policyholder.

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 09:41 pm Post Subject: how would i find out if my deceased father had a life insur

How would I find out if my deceased father had a life insurance policy

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 01:37 am Post Subject:

Start with bank records to see if a life insurance company was taking payments out of his account. If that doesn't work try MIB Solutions' Lost Policy Locator service. http://www.mibsolutions.com/lost-life-insurance/

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 10:19 am Post Subject: Contesting life insurance beneficiary

after my moms death i receive a letter from my moms life insurance company saying i was the beneficiary but when i tryed to get the money out they said
the money already was taken out by my brother.
can i or should i fight this.

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 03:51 pm Post Subject:

after my moms death i receive a letter from my moms life insurance company saying i was the beneficiary but when i tryed to get the money out they said
the money already was taken out by my brother.


What reason did they give you for releasing the money to your brother if you were the beneficiary? How long ago did this occur? In the past year or ten years ago?

You may have a legal claim against the insurance company and/or your brother, if you were the only named beneficiary. if you want some help fighting this, email me with more details and copies of any correspondence you have .

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 05:14 pm Post Subject: Contesting Stepmother's Claim

My father recently died this year. When he and my mother divorced, he was court ordered to take out a life insurance policy that named my mother as beneficiary in an amount that would pay off the house my mother and their disabled daughter live. After he died, we waited to be contacted by an insurance company and were not, but we discovered that he did have two policies that named his new wife as primary beneficiary.

A week after my father was diagnosed as terminal, and when he could not stand for more than 2 minutes or speak, he changed the policy to include his church, but nothing for the children. The catch on that is the only witness to this change was his new wife, who is the primary beneficiary. It stated on the same page where she signed as a witness that the witness had to be a disinterested party. My mom has hired an attorney and after trying to negotiate for six months, they are finally going to let the court decide. My stepmother has had two different attorneys now. The first attorney told her to settle and that he would not represent her in court. The attorney she is with now also urged her to settle, especially after finding out that she had signed as a witness. But my stepmother refused to settle on my mother receiving enough to pay off the house.

I wanted to know if anyone has experience with this type of situation and what they think is likely to happen in court. My mom's attorney says that they will file their petition with the same court that ordered my father to carry the life insurance. If anyone has any info, please email me at PaulDoe79@gmail.com

Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 01:06 am Post Subject:

My mom's attorney says that they will file their petition with the same court that ordered my father to carry the life insurance.


Your mom's attorney is a money-grubbing scheisster. He can file all the petitions and motions he wants to, and none of them will alter the fact that your father is dead, and you cannot sue a dead person in civil court. She doesn't even have a claim against his estate.

Any claim your mother had was only enforceable during your father's lifetime. If your father was ordered to obtain life insurance for the benefit of your mother and her children, why did she not follow up to make sure this happened? She could have gone back to family court and made him answer the question for the judge. Divorce attorneys make these kinds of demands all the time, and it only shows how little they know about insurance.

The proper order would have been for your father to obtain life insurance on his life and to pay the premiums without fail, and that he be required to make your mother the owner of the policy. That way she would have had the contract in her hands and could have done whatever she wanted to do with the beneficiary statement.

If your mother pays the attorney one dime for this, she will have paid $0.11 too much. The attorney should have told her she has no case. Because she doesn't.

Divorced persons violate their court-ordered divorce decrees all the time. Those failures can be brought back to the court for adjudication -- as long as everyone is still alive.

Your mother lost that opportunity the moment your father died.

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 07:35 pm Post Subject: Life Insurance

My son recently passed away. I was informed that there was no beneficiary named in the policy and that the funds will go to the parents. My son's father has never been a part of his life. Is there anyway I can retrieve this money back? Colorado

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