Problem naming beneficiary

[alkimco]

What is the name of your state? Tennessee (policy in Florida)
My wife's ex recently passed away, leaving two policies with a combined value of 350k.
He tried twice to name his (and my wife's) 16-year-old daughter as the sole beneficiary of both policies. Both times Metlife rejected these attempts for form: white-out on the application and application faxed, not mailed. (The guy was no rocket surgeon!)
My question is this: under Florida law, should the insurance company look at the insured's intent in designating a beneficiary, or absent a perfectly named beneficiary, do the proceeds revert to the deceased's estate?What is the name of your state?

 

[BelizeBreeze]

Was there a beneficiary named BEFORE the idiot used white-out? (apologies to Michael Nesbitt).

 

[alkimco]

No, he initially named both daughters (the other is 21) , then evidently changed his mind.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

No, he initially named both daughters (the other is 21) , then evidently changed his mind.

That does NOT make sense. Who was the listed beneficiary on the policy when it was first purchased?

 

[alkimco]

According to Metlife, there was no beneficiary on the original policy.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

According to Metlife, there was no beneficiary on the original policy.

Then if that is true, the policy is an asset of the Estate.

 

[alkimco]

I misspoke, the problem was on the original designation of beneficiaries form. The first attempt was rejected because he began writing his youngest daughter's first name, crossed it out, then wrote it correctly--last name first. The second attempt was rejected because it was a copy and not an original--he evidently faxed it in. In both these attempts his youngest daughter's name is the only one listed under "primary beneficiary designation".

 

[Betty]

I wonder why he did not send in an original correctly completed bene form. I assume it was the ins. co. who told you the bene forms sent in were rejected. Did they tell you the proceeds were being paid to the estate of the deceased? If the forms sent were rejected or there was no bene named originally, the policies would become an asset of the estate. When did he take out these policies - it's strange that he didn't pursue getting the correct bene on the original forms.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

I misspoke, the problem was on the original designation of beneficiaries form. The first attempt was rejected because he began writing his youngest daughter's first name, crossed it out, then wrote it correctly--last name first. The second attempt was rejected because it was a copy and not an original--he evidently faxed it in. In both these attempts his youngest daughter's name is the only one listed under "primary beneficiary designation".

It doesn't matter who's name is listed under 'primary beneficiary' if both attempts were rejected.

From the facts in the post, if both attempts to name a beneficiary were rejected, then there is no beneficiary outside of the estate. Of course, the question then becomes, did you ask the insurance carrier?

 

[alkimco]

The original policy was taken out in Dec '02--I have no idea why he didn't clear this up.

I guess what I'm really asking is this: If the insured's intent to name a certain beneficiary is clear (and there is no other beneficiary mentioned), despite being told by the insurance company that the form had technical deficiencies, do we have a cause of action under Florida law to force the insurance company to pay to this beneficiary?

 

[BelizeBreeze]

The original policy was taken out in Dec '02--I have no idea why he didn't clear this up.

I guess what I'm really asking is this: If the insured's intent to name a certain beneficiary is clear (and there is no other beneficiary mentioned), despite being told by the insurance company that the form had technical deficiencies, do we have a cause of action under Florida law to force the insurance company to pay to this beneficiary?

Nope. not at all.
Of course, you could always take about $20,000 out of petty cash and try.

 

[fairisfair]

um. . . . just a guess, he had remarried ???

 

[alkimco]

Yes, but he was separated from his second wife and lived apart from her for the last five years or so. As you can probably guess, he never got around to divorcing her. This guy's life was a trainwreck!

 

[Dandy Don]

Did the man leave a last will and testament and does it name the ex-wife and daughter as beneficiaries in the will?

Is there any evidence of correspondence from the insurance company that they officially rejected the application he faxed in and did they ask/properly inform him by letter that he needed to submit another beneficiary designation form? It was very stupid for him to have submitted a whited-out form because the insurance company could conjecture that it could have been sent by someone other than him who was trying to benefit.

Did the beneficiary designation form require a notary's signature?

Please post your question on www.lawguru.com and also mention the city/county that applies so that you will receive professional responses from Florida attorneys in your immediate local area--it is not very likely that a Florida attorney will be reading this message board.

You truly do need to be consulting with a Florida attorney to look at what Florida law says--you will not be able to FORCE the insurance company to pay, but you can ask for an interpleader action to get the court/judge to evaluate the evidence and possibly rule in favor of the daughter/ex-wife--I think you have a strong case for winning.


DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[kNOwtheLAW]

First, a life insurance policy would never be issued if there was not a named beneficiary with the initial application. And, the initial application becomes a part of the policy. So, if there were beneficiary designation issues on the original application the Insurer would have verified the intent, made the correction and a requirement for policy issue. If the requirement(s) were not executed and returned to the insurer by a date certain, the policy would not have been issued. That's the way it works. . .

It's not hard to legitimately change a beneficiary designation on a life insurance policy. A call to the agent, or the company stating a desire to change the beneficiary from whatever it was to whatever he wants is all that's required. The proper beneficiary change form is then executed and forwarded to the Owner of the policy for signature(s). The Owner signs and returns the form. The Insurer endorses the change, notes the change in their files, and returns the properly executed beneficiary change form to be attached to the policy as an amendment.

Why was this a 'self-service' policy? Where was the agent or attorney throughout this process?

What this sounds like is someone got a beneficiary change form off the Internet, attempted to complete the form on their own, made major mistakes in the process, attempted to fax the form, and in the end it was rejected. And now, their trying to determine if the Insurer could be forced to acknowledge, how was it phrased, " [..] the insured's intent to name a certain beneficiary. . ."

[..] despite being told by the insurance company that the form had technical deficiencies, do we have a cause of action under Florida law to force the insurance company to pay to this beneficiary?

BB got the answer right on this one with, "Nope. not at all."

KTL