Beneficiary

[dlawson515]

What is the name of your state (Texas)?


My wife was married previously and they had taken taken out a life insurance policy on him at the time. When they divorced, she asked him if he wanted to keep the policies and he said no, but that she could if she wanted to. She kept them in force, paid the premiums and then he died. He had remarried also. The insurance company made the checks out to the estate of ???????. How is this to be handled, deposited or what should be done. She was named beneficiary on the policy.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

[anteater]

If she was the beneficiary, why was the check issued to the estate of the ex rather than her?

Ask the insurance company.

[mmmagique]

Maybe he changed the beneficiary.
Even though someone else may pay the premium, the insured is the one the company works for and takes orders from as far as naming a beneficiary.
As said above, contact the insurance company.

[Dandy Don]

The insurance company may be reluctant to explain why they paid the estate in this particular instance. How much was the payout?

Texas has a law that states something like the fact that an ex can not receive insurance payout if the divorced spouse has remarried unless the policy holder re-submits a beneficiary designation to state that is his intent for the divorced spouse to get the money. It's hard to explain why they didn't pay this person since she is designated beneficiary.

She needs to be consulting with a probate attorney or business law attorney to find out if she has legal grounds to file a lawsuit against the insurance company for they way they handled this or whether she would want to file a complaint with the State Insurance Commissioner for whatever state the insurance company is headquartered in to have her complaint investigated.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (tiekh@yahoo.com)

[dlawson515]

Here is a letter she received explaining why they could not make the check payable to her.

"The laws in the state of Texas preclude payment of life insurance benefits to an ex-spouse. For this reason we must issue the benefit payments for the policy to the Estate of ??????. If an estate has not or will not be established, we would need a state approved Affidavit of No Estate, which meets the state requirements of Texas and indicates who we should reissue the proceeds payable for this claim to. We would also need the benefit check returned with the affidavit."

We are wanting to know what constitutes (an Estate). And how would we know if an Estate is established or not. Is this by a Will or what. As an ex-spouse, how would we find this out? How do you get a state approved Affidavit of No Estate? If someone has those answers, can you let us know. Also who can then receive these proceeds?

[Dandy Don]

If you know the city where the decedent died, you would need to check at the county courthouse probate court for that city to check court records (most Texas counties have records online now) to see if a probate file was established (undoubtedly there was one established so they could get the money). A probate file can be established with or without a will. Affidavit of No Estate can be obtained at the county courthouse probate court, but that affidavit will not be issued now if an estate has already been established.

You will need to consult with an attorney to find out how the law affects her claim (if I remember correctly it's mentioned specifically in Texas divorce law)and whether she can do anything about it legally or not. It seems odd that the insurance company would not cite the law to her or at least refund the premiums to her since SHE was the owner of the policy!!

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (tiekh@yahoo.com)

[OldandTired]

In addition to Texas law, so long as the person insured had filed with the insurance company an affidavit of knowledge, acknowledging the existence of a policy maintained by someone not related, then the policy would be payable directly to the person that is named beneficiary.