Life insurance proceeds?

[curb1]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? OR

I have a question for some of you who are more informed than I. Father-in-law passed away last week. He had a small life insurance policy that had the listed beneficiary as his wife (my MIL) who passed away eight years ago. Other than that the estate is very simple and shouldn't require probate. The insurance company said that they couldn't release proceeds unless this went through probate. Does that sound right from your experience?
Thank you.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[LillianX]

Yes. If the listed beneficiary is deceased, it becomes part of the estate, and must be probated.

 

[CLJM]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? OR

I have a question for some of you who are more informed than I. Father-in-law passed away last week. He had a small life insurance policy that had the listed beneficiary as his wife (my MIL) who passed away eight years ago. Other than that the estate is very simple and shouldn't require probate. The insurance company said that they couldn't release proceeds unless this went through probate. Does that sound right from your experience?
Thank you.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

Please check with your county probate court.
Oregon allows an abbreviated procedure for handling small estates that would otherwise require a full probate. If an estate fits in this category, the cost and time for distributing the estate assets may be greatly reduced. The procedure involves filing a document called an “affidavit of claiming successor.” This abbreviated procedure can be used if the estate’s personal property is valued at no more than $75,000 and real property is valued at no more than $200,000, for a total aggregate estate value of no more than $275,000.

 

[anteater]

I was going to mention the affidavit, but CLJM snuck in there. So, I'll just ask:

Has anybody queried the life insurance company to see if they will accept an affidavit?

... and point you to the Oregon statute, beginning with 114.505:

http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/114.html

 

[curb1]

Thank you. My brother-in-law is handling this. His only contact with the insurance company was that they said "it would have to go through probate".
I will have him make contact again to see if they would accept the affidavit.
Thank you.

 

[curb1]

Just to follow up, the insurance company accepted the Small Estate Affidavit to settle the beneficiary payment.

What was interesting is how much their family attorney was going to charge to handle the Small Estate Affidavit ($1,600.00). Then I saw on a couple of Oregon attorney websites that the cost generally ranges from $1,500 to $3,500 to handle the Small Estate Affidavit. It took us less than 30 minutes to fill out the form and 15 minutes at the court house to submit and record the document at a cost of $117.

So thank you all for your information.

 

[CLJM]

Just to follow up, the insurance company accepted the Small Estate Affidavit to settle the beneficiary payment.

What was interesting is how much their family attorney was going to charge to handle the Small Estate Affidavit ($1,600.00). Then I saw on a couple of Oregon attorney websites that the cost generally ranges from $1,500 to $3,500 to handle the Small Estate Affidavit. It took us less than 30 minutes to fill out the form and 15 minutes at the court house to submit and record the document at a cost of $117.

So thank you all for your information.

Knowledge is power---and, a money saver ! So glad this worked out for you and the family.