Beneficiary changed

[Betty]

I'm going to end my posting to this thread. I guess you have to go by what you believe & pursue this - good luck. Work with your lawyer(s) - they should know all that we have been telling you & know how to handle/what to do. They can answer your questions & I'm sure have asked you questions - most likely the same ones we asked you. No use pursuing here.

 

[Betty]

Dandy Don, thank you for the compliment at the end of your post. You learn a lot about life ins. after working 35+ years for a life ins. co.

Re the thread above, I didn't mean, of course, that you (or anyone else) couldn't continue on with this thread. I just didn't see much point in posting any more when she has lawyers who can tell her (if she asks) or should have already told her all that we can tell her. They know how to proceed.

 

[Betty]

Allison, I really do wish you good luck in finding out the truth in this situation whatever that might be. Betty3

 

[allisonmarr]

Allison, I really do wish you good luck in finding out the truth in this situation whatever that might be. Betty3

Betty,
Yes, thank you so much for your help as well. It is nice to have individuals with expertise and knowledge out there who are willing to be of some help. It means a lot to me!

I also do welcome if anyone has any other information they think would be helpful.

I will continue with my lawyers and also doing some searching for things myself too (that's just the way I tend to operate).

Someone, who knew my father as well, said a woman's instincts about things is most times pretty compelling. As I don't base this to be the sole reason for my legal searching, I will do what is appropriate in a legal manner.

I believe in always doing the right thing, and you will end up on top. And people who don't - well what comes around goes around. This has proven to be true many times in our personal as well as business lives.

Again, thank you!!

 

[Betty]

You're certainly welcome.

 

[allisonmarr]

(1) Is it possible that he actually did change the beneficiary from your name to hers because he might have realized that otherwise he didn’t have much of an estate and instead wanted to provide a substantial estate for his wife?

(2) What is the estimated total value of the assets being probated (the homes, the cars, bank accounts, and the ½ of the business)?

(3) What is the total amount of debt?

(4) Is the will being officially probated in court or not?

(5) What is the legal specialty (what area of law) of the attorneys that you are using—the ones you say you have been using for years? If they have no expertise in probate law, then they are outside the needed area of expertise and their advice can’t do you much good—you should be consulting with a probate attorney if the will is being submitted to probate court.

I’m not sure but I am wondering whether or not the insurance company might possibly give a copy of the beneficiary designation form to the executor of the estate if the executor asks them for it. The executor has legal authority to request information on most, if not all, financial documents in regard to the decedent’s estate. Even if it turns out that they won’t release it to the executor, when your attorney initiates an interpleader suit with the insurance company (where he asks the insurance company to let the courts determine who is entitled to the money) or instead will be filing a separate civil lawsuit against the spouse for forgery/fraud, at some point during the discovery process the surviving spouse will be asked to provide the information about the insurance company, so that aspect is something that you don’t need to be particularly concerned about right now until you have retained your own attorney. Additionally, you could pay a $75 fee to MIB to have a policy search done through the top 400 insurance companies in US (but the search could take about 2-3 months to complete) and/or also order copies of your father’s monthly bank account statements for the past 2-3 years to see if he was paying monthly premiums to the insurance company. YOU NEED TO FIND YOUR OWN ATTORNEY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO THAT HE CAN NOTIFY THE INSURANCE COMPANY THAT HE INTENDS TO FILE AN INTERPLEADER ACTION TO PROTEST THE VALIDITY OF THE BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION FORM, so that the company will not automatically make a payout to the surviving spouse. This is a special area of the law known as “BAD FAITH INSURANCE”, so you need an attorney who has particular experience with interpleader actions or benefit disputes involving life insurance, OR a business law attorney. Please also check their credentials with the state bar association website to make sure you are not hiring someone with a background of criminal charges or a violation of ethics.

(6) Do you know any circumstances about how or when he may have purchased the policy, perhaps through his place of employment or would he have purchased it on his own, privately? Just wondering.

It’s uncertain from your posting whether or not you were implying that she had anything to do with your father’s death. If I were you, I would have a background check done on her through a private investigator to see if there is a criminal history or not. Also order a copy of her previous husband’s death certificate, obituary notice from the newspaper (to see if there is any indication as to whether there was possibly any mention of questionable circumstances regarding his death), and look at his probate file to see how his estate was handled.

I believe that your suspicions about her are valid and that you are right to fight this, and that it will probably come down to a battle of the penmanship experts in court, who will try to determine if the signature and THE other handwriting on the beneficiary designation form looks genuine or not! What a shame that many people do not realize that multiple beneficiaries can be named on a policy, and if he had wanted to, he could have designated both you AND his spouse to split this money.

(NOTE TO BETTY: Thank you so much for your helpful and knowledgeable responses to this message board. They help us understand the policies and procedures of how insurance companies operate.)


DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

**********************************************************

Thank you Dandy Don!
You have been very helpful.
Allion

 

[Dandy Don]

Your idea for getting insurance policy information is great, but I also wanted to revise my answer somewhat to make a correction. I would strongly urge you to go ahead and order the policy search service from MIB. If I remember correctly, their procedure is to contact the 400 major insurance companies by letter and/or fax, so that the companies can start their search immediately, and it's possible to get a confirmation from one of the companies that has your relatives' policy anywhere from a day to a week later. When I stated the month or two completion for the search I was referring to the fact that it may take that long maximum for ALL of the 400 companies to respond.

I have no idea whether or not a trustee would have legal authority to request bank records--that is something you will have to discuss with your attorneys. I would think that normally the information is released only to the executor, and that if no one else has filed to be executor, you or your attorney can certainly do so.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[Betty]

I know I said I was done with this thread but I just want to mention that the MIB search (for $75.00) normally will only pick up individual underwritten life ins. applications that were processed within the last 13 years. I don't know how long ago this policy was taken out. It might be worth a shot though for $75.00. They may also come back & just say MetLife.