Successor transferring ownership of life insurance policy

by Lisa » Fri May 09, 2014 06:38 am
Posts: 1
Joined: 09 May 2014

My dad recently passed away. My dad was owner of two life insurance policies wherein my mom, myself and my two other siblings, as successors, are all being requested to sign off on an affidavit whereby we are relinquishing our rights to the policy and are placing my mom as the new owner of the policy. As we have been asked to do this as successors, does that mean we are all entitled equally at this point to the death benefits but that if we sign the affidavit we relinquish those rights and ownership to the policy now goes fully to my mother. What if the death benefit has been paid out to my mom already by the life insurance carrier but this document is just now being circulated? I am thinking one policy wherein my mom received benefits already that she was the primary beneficiary but am concerned about this affidavit info I just now received regarding transfer of ownership to mom.

Total Comments: 4

Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 04:15 pm Post Subject:

SOmething is not right with this post. There are not usually "successors" to life insurance contracts. There can be last to die policies covering more than one life, and when one insured dies, that person is simply dropped from the list of insureds. Policies such as these are not typically individually owned -- they are most often owned by insurance trusts or businesses.

If your mother becomes owner of the policy, then she has the full right to rename anyone or anything as the beneficiary of the policy.

What if the death benefit has been paid out to my mom already by the life insurance carrier but this document is just now being circulated?

It sounds to me like you have absolutely no idea what your position is with respect to the policy. Before you sign anything, you need expert advice.

As a licensed Life & Disability Insurance Analyst, I am uniquely qualified to do that. Click on the "Send me your questions . . ." link below to send me an email concerning your situation. If you fail to act properly and in a timely manner, you could find yourself in a long legal battle that will only cause a lot of distress and cost a lot of money.

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 04:56 pm Post Subject: ownership of policy

How can ownership be changed when original owner dies

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 06:11 am Post Subject:

How can ownership be changed when original owner dies

This is strictly a contractual issue. The policy will state that if the owner is someone other than the insured and the owner dies, the new owner will be either (a) the estate of the deceased owner, or (b) the insured.

Life insurance rarely has more than one owner, and there are no "contingent owners" as there may be "contingent beneficiaries".

Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2016 11:11 am Post Subject: ZRzomePMJwdsuHfPEQt

It's much easier to unsradtend when you put it that way!

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