Dallas Fort Worth Insurance Lawyer Blog
Can someone who is not related by blood have a pecuniary interest in the life of another as it relates to life insurance policy? This answer is discussed in a 1942, Texas Supreme Court opinion styled, Drane v. Jefferson Standard Life Ins. Co.
Here is what the court discussed in that case.
Although not related by blood or marriage to Harry Ezell, Jr. not indebted to him in any way, his godmother Dorothy Drane named him as beneficiary in two life insurance policies. Upon her death, the executor of her estate, her brother, asserted that Ezell had n insurable interest. The facts showed Miss Drane had bought clothes for the boy for fifteen years, had paid for his medical care, had cared for him while his mother was ill, had taken him on vacation, and sadly was killed in a wreck as she drove to visit him his freshman year in college, “taking him a radio, a cop and an apple pie.” The court concluded that Ezell did have an insurable interest based on a reasonable expectation of pecuniary benefit and advantage from Miss Drane’s continued life . “We think that when Dorothy Drane was killed ‘his temporal affairs, his just hopes and well grounded expectations of support, of patronage, and advantage in life’ were impaired …. It is inconceivable, under the facts of this record, that he would ever have been tempted to destroy her life in order to collect the proceeds of the two policies in suit.
The Drane case is a dispute over who is entitled to life insurance proceeds. Any time there is a fight over who is entitled to life insurance proceeds the parties involved must seek the advice of an Experienced Life Insurance Lawyer.