dispute on beneficiary change

[membree]

What is the name of your state?Missouri
I read another post on this subject but I wanted to get a response on our situation. My mother and Step dad have been married for 30 yrs. He recently passed away on Wed. Jan 5th .They recently over the summer seperated for a couple of months because she wanted to live closer to her family(my husband and I) We are her only family left. He refused to move down here. He begged her to come back home and in the middle of being mad at her he switched his beneficiary. I know tough luck right! Well anyway we did contact an attorney and he said fight for it. I dont know if that is because of the money he will get just to file a suit or what. All I know for sure is that if he would have lived just a week longer it would have been fixed because they got back together and he moved down here with my mom.They had plans to go back to kc on Mon. Jan 10th to change the mail and pick up the papers for the Beneficiary change since he just did it to hurt her. Well now she has a mortgage that they owed $110,000 on that she cant afford to pay, A car that she owes $12000.00 on that he just bought last month. We have tried to bargain with my step sister if she would just help pay some of the finances , he left and keep the rest. SHE SAID SHE ISNT SHARING ANYTHING HE LEFT IT TO HER FOR HER AND THAT IS THAT! I really dont think this is fair to my mother and maybe there is nothing she can do, but any advice will be nice to have.

 

[ALawyer]

My sense is that you'd be out of luck if it ever got to trial, unless you can show that he lacked mental capacity at the time he signed and filed his beneficiary change, or they had a pre-nup or post-nup in which he agreed to name her as beneficiary, or if she had rights to some of the policy or proceeds under community property laws, or if she had rights under other principles of equity, such as if her money was used to pay the premium.

The change of bene with one life insurance company would not impact the Will, her rights to take part of the estate if there is no Will. Also, in some states there is a spouse's right of election that may include insurance proceeds.

As for the lawyer suggesting that you fight, if the lawyer would take it on a contingency basis (most would not) and for his or her fee take a share (such as 33-1/3rd%) in the settlement on the policy proceeds, that might give you some clue as to how strong a case you really have. IF the lawyer says no, pay me a fee, that may give you a clue your case is not substantial enough to prevail on.

 

[Dandy Don]

Did he leave a will? Is it being probated? If he has any other assets, then file a claim for his debts with the estate so that some of them can be paid off, if possible.