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contesting life insurance beneficiary

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ricathyo

Junior Member
I live in RI, my Mom lived in NC. In 1998 she named the uncle of the mentally disabled woman she was the guardian of as the beneficiary on her life insurance so that if anything happened to her, the woman would be cared for. In 2003 that woman passed away. In 2007 my Mom filled out and submitted forms to the insurance company to change the beneficiary to the woman who was caring for her, with the understanding that it would pay her cremation costs, reimburse the woman (who had been making the insurance payments for my Mom for 2 years) and then the rest would come to me and my kids.
Mom passed away in Jan 2010. When the woman contacted the insurance company, she was told that the original man was still beneficiary, that although Mom had signed the form to change it, she had only signed it in one place and not 2, thereby making them unable to process the request for change. While going through Mom's papers she found the letter from them..unopened..informing Mom of this. We can only assume that Mom thought it was a letter telling her the change was made or something so she didn't look at it.
Meanwhile, Mom was cremated and ashes sent here based on the change to the life insurance form (which the woman has a stamped copy of ). We have been in touch with the original beneficiary and it appears as though he is not going to follow Mom's wishes but keep the money.
Do we have any options at all here? Shouldn't the insurance company have made more effort to inform Mom the change hadn't been made? Doesn't the fact that she did sign it make it in some way legal?
Quite frankly we don't think the man is even going to honor the funeral expenses,,in which case, who is responsible for that? Me? I am a single Mom with 2 sons on SSI, 1 is disabled, 1 handicapped and we barely make ends meet now. This life ins, money would have been a real help to us, which is what my Mom intended.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


JETX

Senior Member
Do we have any options at all here?
Regrettably, no.
The actual beneficiary forms 'trump' any verbal "I meant to" issues.

Shouldn't the insurance company have made more effort to inform Mom the change hadn't been made?
They did. Your own post says that they sent her a letter noting the deficiency.

Doesn't the fact that she did sign it make it in some way legal?
No.

Quite frankly we don't think the man is even going to honor the funeral expenses,,in which case, who is responsible for that? Me?
Funeral homes don't provide services without some specific 'guarantor' of the costs. In this case, whoever signed the papers will be responsible for payment.
 

ricathyo

Junior Member
Regrettably, no.
The actual beneficiary forms 'trump' any verbal "I meant to" issues.


Even though it was not a verbal "I meant to" but forms were submitted and there are stamped copies of these in possession of both the funeral home and the woman Mom wanted as beneficiary?
 

ShyCat

Senior Member
Forms were submitted, but they were incomplete (only signed in one place) and therefore invalid. Mom ignored the notice and so did not correct her error. Possession of stamped copies of the incomplete (invalid) submittal does not change that fact. Thus the original beneficiary gets the money.
 

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