Dallas Fort Worth Insurance Lawyer Blog
The Law Office of Mark Humphreys, P.C., is pleased to announce the settlement of a life insurance case wherein the life insurance company recognized they owed the policy benefits but was unsure who was entitled to the money.
In this case, the deceased had named his wife as the primary beneficiary and his wife’s son, from a previous marriage, as the secondary beneficiary. The deceased had divorced his wife prior to his death without changing the beneficiaries under the policy.
By operation of Texas law and no exceptions applying, the divorce resulted in the ex-wife being automatically excluded as a beneficiary under the policy. This meant the claim went to the secondary beneficiary, the son of the ex-wife and Mark’s client.
However, the deceased had remarried and the new wife made a claim to the life insurance benefits based on some incomplete paperwork mailed to the life insurance company that made the new wife, the sole beneficiary.
Mark was able to show the strong relationship between the deceased and the son of the ex-wife and that the incomplete attempt to change the beneficiary papers were insufficient to effect the change of beneficiary. Thus, the result was that Mark’s client was able to recover policy proceeds.