june63

[june63]

life insurance with no beneficiaryWhat is the name of your state?Iowa
My uncle recently died, he has two life insurance policies with no beneficiaries listed. When my grandmother died, all living children had to sign to get the life insurance. She had no will. My uncle has a will, but only two of his children (he has four), and all of his grandchildren are listed on the will. My aunt who is the executor of the will is wondering if the two children who are not listed in his will, need to sign? Is there any way to get around having them sign. They will refuse and the life insurance is the only way we can bury him. His other assets are his house and the property the house sits on. It will take too long for the sale to have money to bury him with.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

life insurance with no beneficiaryWhat is the name of your state?Iowa
My uncle recently died, he has two life insurance policies with no beneficiaries listed. When my grandmother died, all living children had to sign to get the life insurance. She had no will. My uncle has a will, but only two of his children (he has four), and all of his grandchildren are listed on the will. My aunt who is the executor of the will is wondering if the two children who are not listed in his will, need to sign? Is there any way to get around having them sign. They will refuse and the life insurance is the only way we can bury him. His other assets are his house and the property the house sits on. It will take too long for the sale to have money to bury him with.

With a will the proceeds from the insurance policy become an asset of the estate. That's the least of your aunt's problems as executrix.

A pretermitted heir is the child of a person who has written a will in which the child is not mentioned and not left anything. After the death of the parent, a pretermitted heir has the right to demand the share he/she would have received as an heir under the laws of distribution and descent. The law aims to protect these “left-out” children by giving them a forced share of the estate under certain circumstances. This right is based on the presumption that the parent either inadvertently forgot the child or incorrectly believed the child was dead, and did not mean to leave him/her out.

What this means to your aunt is that she will face a challenge to the will and the courts will be required to add the two children left out as if they had been included.
Bordwell, THE STATUTE LAW OF WILLS, 14 Iowa L. Rev. 172, 175 (1929).