by Senman006 » Fri Sep 19, 2008 04:17 pm
In 1957 my husband & I, Haluk & Ulla Senman, came to Milwaukee, Wis. from Canada. My husband bought a small insurance policy from Prudential Life Insurance Co. I did not know about this one. Others he had, he cancelled after retirement. Last year Prudential contacted me about this and asked for my husband's signature, that I could not provide since my husband could not speak nor write at the time. After my husband died I sent his death certificate and filled a form. They did not accept this and with the funeral director's help we filled out another form that was specifically meant for Wisconsin. This did not work. They are requesting a court paper for his estate. Since he had only $865.97 left in his account, I felt he had no estate. When I called the Clerk of the Court, she said I needed another kind of letter and that I had to pay $350.00 to get this paper because my husband's estate was less than $75,000. This does not make sense to me. Now Prudential writes, if I don't provide this paper before Oct. 4, 2008 they will transfer the unclaimed money to their Abandoned Property Operations. What must I do?
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 10:49 am Post Subject:
Your husband's old policy either had no beneficiary designations OR both/and/or the Primary Beneficiary AND the Contingent Beneficiary had predeceased the Insured, your husband.
When that happens the death benefit becomes part of your husband's Probate Estate.
The clerk's office is referring to "Letters of Administration" which is a Court Order appointing an Executor or Personal Representative to act on behalf of the Estate.
What must I do?
Contact a Probate lawyer in Wisconsin.
The $350 is the clerk's filing fee to open the court case.
I doubt you'll find an attorney who would bother with this small amount ($866).
You could try contacting the local law school and see if they have some type of pro bono (free) legal services provided by their law students under the direction of Wisconsin attorneys.
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