QUESTION
A beneficiary is disqualified due to divorce. Life insurance company provided with last will. Does money still follow division between kids in will??
Asked on Feb 13th, 2014 on Contracts - Florida
More details to this question:
My dad just passed away and left an insurance policy. He left my mom as beneficiary because she was trusted to divide assets the way he wanted. They were divorced but still very close friends. The insurance company stated a 2012 law that denied her the payout. Now they are holding the money back from all of us kids. I submitted his will, that stated a percentage of division between his children for the policy. 25% and 75%. The insurance company is talking about splitting evenly with all kids, even ones specifically named in will as getting a different amount. Dad took care of his children and left more to the younger kids because he felt they need it more. Can an insurance company disregard his wishes?? Please advise. I do not know what to do now.
1 ANSWER
Insurance proceeds pass outside of wills. For example, assume I die leaving a house worth $100,000 and a life insurance policy worth $200,000. My will states that I leave half my property to my son and half to my daughter, but the terms of my insurance policy are that my son is the sole beneficiary. The house will be sold and each child will get $50,000, but my son would get the entire $200,000 proceeds from the insurance policy. I am not familiar with the Florida statutes in this area, but I assume that the insurer is citing a statute which provides that an ex spouse can't be the beneficiary of an insurance policy unless certain requirements are met, and a statute which states how proceeds are to be divided if no valid beneficiary is named. This would have nothing to do with any will.
Answered on Feb 13th, 2014 at 1:54 PM