What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? North Carolina
Very recently my brother passed away unexpectedly. In June of 2009 he started a life insurance policy in which he put our mom, his only son (6-yr-old) and myself as the primary beneficiaries. Within a month, he changed two of the beneficiaries to his girlfriend, and his grandmother (with whom he practically lived), while keeping our mother on it.
We were not aware of this change until just the other day when the insurance agent, who is very close to my mother/father (they have a policy w/ the company) and my grandmother who is a beneficiary, contacted my mother and said she would be talking w/ the beneficiaries shortly. She informed my mother that she needed to talk w/ her, his grandmother, and "his wife" (he was never married to his girlfriend, the insur. agent claimed that my grandmother told her that he and his girlfriend were married).
A couple of things to note before getting to the question: The fact that he removed me as a beneficiary doesn't bother me at all - our family wants the money to be used directly and indirectly for the benefit of his son who lives with my mother and father (everyone except his grandmother who is a beneficiary); we understand it's his choice, his life, and that the life insurance policy is a legally binding agreement; and we are also keeping in close touch w/ the insurance agent who works closely with our family to stay informed of our current options though she cannot really give us too much information, legally, and since we are also having to wait on the results from the coroner to establish the cause of death.
From very little research on the issue, I've found that insurance beneficiary payouts are often disputed by the insurance company because of misinformation, suicide, or fraud. However, based on A LOT of little strange things adding-up regarding my brother's death, the state of his relationship with his gf (fighting to the point of death threats), how she and our grandmother influenced him into changing the policy and then keeping this a secret, some peculiar facts during the night of his death that add up, etc...all in all, we have suspicions of probable foul play.
I'm wondering though 1) how often one beneficiary successfully disputes the payout of another on these grounds 2) would this jeopardiZe the entire policy or would it selectively effect particular beneficiaries (e.g. the fact that he wasn't married and listed that he was - I'm not even sure if this alone anyway would be considered grounds for misrepresentation)mm3) How likely the probability of foul play would need to be...would there need to be an actual conviction, criminal charges, etc
These are questions we intend to discuss with the insurance company and/or an attorney if we do chose to take it that far, but I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with this type of situation. Right now, everything is happening so quickly - his death, the funeral, new information and speculation day by day, working through initial interpretations of events where you give people the benefit of the doubt and assume they have at least neutral intentions, etc - and the situation is rather complex, so much so that it seems like there are a lot of possibilities, and that is why I wonder just how probable is probable enough...
Thanks in advance for any opinions/advice.
Very recently my brother passed away unexpectedly. In June of 2009 he started a life insurance policy in which he put our mom, his only son (6-yr-old) and myself as the primary beneficiaries. Within a month, he changed two of the beneficiaries to his girlfriend, and his grandmother (with whom he practically lived), while keeping our mother on it.
We were not aware of this change until just the other day when the insurance agent, who is very close to my mother/father (they have a policy w/ the company) and my grandmother who is a beneficiary, contacted my mother and said she would be talking w/ the beneficiaries shortly. She informed my mother that she needed to talk w/ her, his grandmother, and "his wife" (he was never married to his girlfriend, the insur. agent claimed that my grandmother told her that he and his girlfriend were married).
A couple of things to note before getting to the question: The fact that he removed me as a beneficiary doesn't bother me at all - our family wants the money to be used directly and indirectly for the benefit of his son who lives with my mother and father (everyone except his grandmother who is a beneficiary); we understand it's his choice, his life, and that the life insurance policy is a legally binding agreement; and we are also keeping in close touch w/ the insurance agent who works closely with our family to stay informed of our current options though she cannot really give us too much information, legally, and since we are also having to wait on the results from the coroner to establish the cause of death.
From very little research on the issue, I've found that insurance beneficiary payouts are often disputed by the insurance company because of misinformation, suicide, or fraud. However, based on A LOT of little strange things adding-up regarding my brother's death, the state of his relationship with his gf (fighting to the point of death threats), how she and our grandmother influenced him into changing the policy and then keeping this a secret, some peculiar facts during the night of his death that add up, etc...all in all, we have suspicions of probable foul play.
I'm wondering though 1) how often one beneficiary successfully disputes the payout of another on these grounds 2) would this jeopardiZe the entire policy or would it selectively effect particular beneficiaries (e.g. the fact that he wasn't married and listed that he was - I'm not even sure if this alone anyway would be considered grounds for misrepresentation)mm3) How likely the probability of foul play would need to be...would there need to be an actual conviction, criminal charges, etc
These are questions we intend to discuss with the insurance company and/or an attorney if we do chose to take it that far, but I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with this type of situation. Right now, everything is happening so quickly - his death, the funeral, new information and speculation day by day, working through initial interpretations of events where you give people the benefit of the doubt and assume they have at least neutral intentions, etc - and the situation is rather complex, so much so that it seems like there are a lot of possibilities, and that is why I wonder just how probable is probable enough...
Thanks in advance for any opinions/advice.