Ex wife as Life insurance beneficiary

by phbrandt » Wed May 27, 2009 05:09 pm

My wife and I are already divorced. She has not re-married, neither has I.
We are in our late 50s. We are on good terms. I want to add her to my life insurance policy as a beneficiary. What information would I need from ex wife, so I can add my ex-wife as beneficiary?

Total Comments: 40

Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 10:15 pm Post Subject:

It depends on the insurance company. In most cases, all that is needed is her name and date of birth. They usually want the SS #, but not having it shouldn't matter.

Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:32 am Post Subject: insurance

I'm glad you nad your EX get along. However ( putting in my ' 2 cents here') i don't think it's a good idea if you put your EX on as Beneficiary. Of course, you can have who you want. But,...what if something happens and you two get in a fight, etc? What then? You'd probably would want to change it ( just assuming, of course).

Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:55 am Post Subject:

Do you want to have your ex-wife as beneficiary so that the money will go to her? Or do you want to have her as beneficiary so that she can give the money to a child or some other purpose?

There are many ways to accomplish what it is that you would like to. If it is simply that you would like the money to go to her, then just give the insurance company her name and SS# if you have it.

However ( putting in my ' 2 cents here') i don't think it's a good idea if you put your EX on as Beneficiary.



Not the best person to be giving advice on beneficiaries...LOL!

Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 01:02 am Post Subject:

I'm glad you nad your EX get along. However ( putting in my ' 2 cents here') i don't think it's a good idea if you put your EX on as Beneficiary. Of course, you can have who you want. But,...what if something happens and you two get in a fight, etc? What then? You'd probably would want to change it ( just assuming, of course).



It takes about 60 seconds to change a beneficiary designation. You may want to try it.

Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 04:16 am Post Subject:

Hi phbrandt, I think Chri's post has given you some food for thought. You haven't mentioned whether you two have children. You need to keep in mind their reactions too about this issue.

Regarding assigning your ex-wife as beneficiary.... it wouldn't be a problem. You only need to call up your agent and complete the needed paper-work.

By the way, who is the current beneficiary of the policy? Why do you want to change the beneficiary name, anyway? You can share some more information if its not too personal.

Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 10:06 am Post Subject:

Do you want to have your ex-wife as beneficiary so that the money will go to her? Or do you want to have her as beneficiary so that she can give the money to a child or some other purpose?



Good point Chris :) Although this may be only a matter of a few minutes or maybe a few seconds at that, naming a beneficiary is something you must do after a lot of thinking. You definitely do have a purpose for which you want to name someone as beneficiary. It's your money after all and you know where you want it to go. Again you may also have certain responsibilities to take care of (children) and when you name your beneficiary in a policy think properly about who you are naming as primary beneficiary and who as secondary beneficiary.

Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 10:53 am Post Subject: insurance

I want to add her to my life insurance policy as a beneficiary.

Of course, it's your decision who you want as Beneficiary. If you DO trust your EX enough to give the money to the kids, well,..then..good. A Beneficiary should be someone you DEARLY trust, amoung other things.

Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 09:08 pm Post Subject:

Of course, it's your decision who you want as Beneficiary. If you DO trust your EX enough to give the money to the kids, well,..then..good. A Beneficiary should be someone you DEARLY trust, amoung other things.



You just don't get it. It's not about trust. Let me give you an example:

SDCharger trusts me completely. She knows that I'm a great guy and am wealthy and I don't need her money and I will make sure to give it to her kid. Thus, she names me as the beneficiary of her $1,000,000 life insurance policy. I then gift the money to her child and put the money in an UTMA account. I am the custodian and I make sure that the money is used wisely for her kid.

Fast forward 10 years. I want to give my kid $300,000 to buy a house. Unfortunately, I was forced to use up my $1,000,000 lifetime gifting exclusion when I gave SDChargers money to her kid. Now, because SDCharger "trusted" me, I'm going to have to pay about $150,000 in taxes on this gift to my daughter.

Beneficiary designations have consequences beyond the initial naming. Always name the beneficiary that should get the money either directly or through trust mechanisms.

Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 01:17 am Post Subject: insurance

HUH??????!!!!!! OF COURSE, you would make your Beneficiary someone you trust. Why wouldn't you? SGLI are under defferent 'guidelines' then a 'civilian' Life Insurance policy. I believe I explained this several times, already. If people want to 'beat a dead horse', that's up to them.

Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 01:20 am Post Subject: insurance

SDCharger trusts me completely

the 'advice' you are giving me, pertaining to a SGLI, is completely incorrect. HELL NO...I wouldn't trust you.

Add your comment

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.