Life insurance given to someone else?

[anastasia88]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Canada
My mothers aunt (my great aunt) passed away in 2012, before this she had specifically told my mother that there was to be a life insurance claim left for her and other beneficiaries. After the passing of my great aunt my mother contacted the insurance company which had told her that there was a claim left in her name. My mother requested that the paperwork be sent to the power of attorney. After that we heard nothing of the claim again. My mother contacted the insurance company to see if it had been sent somewhere else but she instead was informed that her name was not on the list of beneficiaries and that they could not give her any information. A year later my mom contacted the company and asked if they could look into this matter, the said they would investigate the matter but once again, we heard nothing. So, now that I am much older than I was at the original time of this happening, I'm curious where our money went. (Also let it be noted that the power of attorney was closely working with members of our family to divide all of the belongings, etc but did not contact my mother at all)

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Canada
My mothers aunt (my great aunt) passed away in 2012, before this she had specifically told my mother that there was to be a life insurance claim left for her and other beneficiaries. After the passing of my great aunt my mother contacted the insurance company which had told her that there was a claim left in her name. My mother requested that the paperwork be sent to the power of attorney. After that we heard nothing of the claim again. My mother contacted the insurance company to see if it had been sent somewhere else but she instead was informed that her name was not on the list of beneficiaries and that they could not give her any information. A year later my mom contacted the company and asked if they could look into this matter, the said they would investigate the matter but once again, we heard nothing. So, now that I am much older than I was at the original time of this happening, I'm curious where our money went. (Also let it be noted that the power of attorney was closely working with members of our family to divide all of the belongings, etc but did not contact my mother at all)

This forum is for US law matters only...but even in Canada, if you're not on the policy as a beneficiary, then you're not on the policy as a beneficiary. There is no reason to question where "our money" went, because it never was "our money".

 

[cbg]

The fact that your aunt told your mother that there would be a life insurance policy left for her is not proof that she ever got around to doing it.

 

[Dandy Don]

I believe your story and I truly doubt that the great aunt would have told your mother something that wasn't true.

Who is the power of attorney in this situation--is it another family member or someone outside of the family. Your mother perhaps did not realize it at the time, but when she asked for the paperwork she should have asked that it be sent to HER, and not to the POA (although I guess your mother trusted the POA at that time). The POA may have never received the paperwork or what I suspect happened is that the POA did receive it but did not want to show it to your mother.

Sometimes a POA will use the POA to change beneficiary designations, not realizing that this is illegal. That could possibly have happened here. You need to consult with a business law attorney who has experience with suing insurance companies or an attorney who specializes in insurance interpleader cases to find out what your next step needs to be to have this investigated on your behalf. The attorney should be able to tell you if you can get enough evidence to charge the POA with abuse of power of attorney.