insurance beneficiary

[brownjd]

my wife recently died and we both lived together in texas. she had no will or living trust, and we have no children. she has life insurance through work but did not designate a beneficiary. Am I the sole beneficiary for this policy? I am supposed to complete a sole survivors form for the insurance company which would list her parents, brothers, sisters, etc. Is this just for information purposes? Will there be some type of delay in receiving the death benefit because of the non-beneficiary designation?

 

[ALawyer]

Unless there is a "facility of payment clause" in the group policy, so the insurance company would pay a spouse by default, the proceeds would go to her heirs at law under Texas law.

As I understand it under Texas' law of intestate distribution (I AM NOT A TX LAWYER THOUGH) a spouse is entitled to the first $X of your late wife's estate and a percentage of the rest, and her her parents are entitled to the remaining part.

Depending on the amount of the policy it may be possible to get by with the simplified small estate procedure. Ask the county probate clerk.