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who gets the money

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mrspeezer

Guest
What is the name of your state?washington
my brother-in-law has been with the same woman for fifteen years. the house they resided in was originally in her name. just recently after a fire totally destroyed their house, the insurance sent the checks to her, in her name only. she promptly spent all the checks on herself. he never got one penny, even for the things in the house that were his. does he have any recourse against her or the insurance company. since we areaacommunity property state shouldn't the checks have been in their names as co-owners. also note they are in the process of separating.
 


ALawyer

Senior Member
IF he was a co-owner of the property (and I am not sure you know that just being "on the deed" does not automatically make him a co-owner -- it depends exactly HOW he was on the deed) he would have a claim against her. The fact they live in a community property state does not mean the house was half his -- as it was her separate property before the marriage smething would have had to happen to make it community property. If his income -- or the community income -- was used to pay the insurance proceeds that's a basis for his claim to some of the proceeds too.
 
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He will have no recourse against the insurance company. They only have to write the check to the policyholder. He should have made sure that he was on the policy or had a policy of his own.

He can definately try to go back after her & see about getting some of the money back, but can he prove what was in the house & what was his?
 

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