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 Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:50 am Post subject: |
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As I have been working on the MOTHER of all screwed-up cases involving wills and disgruntled beneficiaries, it's funny (ironic really) how this topic suddenly appeared in my Topic Reply Notification inbox.
Check this out:
Grandma and Grandpa are living very well in thier senior years. They owned a large business in the San Francisco Bay area and made tons of money when they sold it. Together, they have 4 sons and a number of grandchildren. Grandma dies at 63 years old and Grandpa remarries a wonderful woman (his age) 3 years later.
In her younger days, the new Grandma was unable to have children and grew very close to her nieces and nephews.
Grandpa dies in 2003 without a will or a trust and a net estate value in the mid-seven figure range. Grandma is suddenly coached by her sisters on the value of things like Wills and Trusts.
Grandma passed away last month and when her Will was read, it seems as though everything was left to her nieces, nephews, and their children. With the exception of one grandson, none of Grandpa's side of the family received anything.
It seems the one grandson had taken the time to visit on a regular basis, went hunting and fishing with his grandfather, sent Father's Day cards, etc., etc. He told me he wanted absolutely nothing from his grandfather except his wedding ring (from his first marriage) and Grandpa's gun collection.
Instead, he'll probably never have to work again and the rest of his side of the family is REALLY upset with him for being the only one anything was left to.
Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
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Please feel free to go to my website at www.markcolbert.com or, if you have a specific question, you can email me directly. I hope I can answer any questions you might have. If not, I can certainly find an answer right away. |
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InsInvestigator
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| Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 10:21 pm Post subject: Will |
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So my dad passed away and had a will he stated that ALL money insurance money ect,ect is sapoce to go to his kids in his words with ALL and insurance in there clearly...
My dad was diegnosed with savere depression in 2004 he wrote the will in 2002 and changed the benferirie to his gf in 2006 does she still get the money knowing he was not of sound mind body n soul when he signed the benifire papers??
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amandamills
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| Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:27 am Post subject: |
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Well Amanda, the beneficiary status mentioned in the policy document normally prevails over the will of the decedent. Hence, the insurance company would acknowledge the girlfriend as the beneficiary of your father since it was amended by the insured.
Now, if you would like to contest the beneficiary issue, you would need to challenge the same at the court of law where you would be required to prove that your father wasn't at sound state of mind when he made the changes. If you win, the money would then be paid to you according to the verdict. |
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kelvin
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| Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:45 am Post subject: |
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Hi Amanda,
Do you possess any evidence which may prove that he was not of a sound mind when he changed the beneficiary?
If you have any such medical documents, it may come in handy in the court of law. Otherwise, things would go in their natural way!
Steven |
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steven
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| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:25 pm Post subject: will versus beneficiary |
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If the decease had CD with totten trust name for beneficiary over the CD's (all accounts) and the will said to devide 50/50 between 2 people (one of which was named trust on accounts) Does the other one get anything or only the designated beneficiary trust
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theone
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| Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:46 am Post subject: |
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Well I'm confused...Start again...the will says what? and the trust says what?
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"Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way." Martin Luther King Jr. |
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Lori
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| Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:08 am Post subject: |
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And your point is?
Mark (InsInvestigator) is spot on with his points on wills vs. life insurance beneficiaries. Any of the posts that equate the two or give supremacy to a will over a living life insurance beneficiary are, to be blunt, not worth reading.
Life insurance generally exists outside the realm of probate law, in which wills are firmly entrenched. But a careful reading of most life contracts will reveal much in common with probate law, especially when it comes to succession of beneficiaries and unusual situations such as simultaneous death or common disasters.
When an insured dies, the two remaining parties to the contract are the insurer and the beneficiary. Not the probate court or the wills and trusts lawyer. But policyowners have done many a strange thing when it comes to naming beneficiaries, perhaps at the insistence of an agent with as little understanding of the subject as some of the posters in this thread.
Vague beneficiary statements are the source of much contention over policy proceeds, but, again, it is entirely outside the probate process. Naming "All My Children" is inviting trouble in some of our complex family situations involving kids in the "his, hers, and ours" categories. And what about the heretofore unknown "love child" (a la John Edwards, absent the National Enquirer)?
How can you be certain that life insurance and wills are not on a collision course as some of the previous posts contend? Do a little research on the topic "spendthrift trust" -- where you'll discover that life insurance and retirement plan proceeds have similar and special protections which generally make them "invulnerable" to claims by creditors of the decedent, or those of the beneficiary (at least not before the money is in the hands of the beneficiary). And they are not subject to claims of or against the estate, unless there is no named beneficiary, or, worse yet, a person's beneficiary is named as "My Estate."
Any good book on wills and trusts will point out the significant differences between the two, and show how ownership of life insurance is sometimes placed in a trust, but should never be left in such a way that a will takes precedence (i.e., always having named primary and contingent beneficiary(ies), and regular client contact to make sure nothing has happened to warrant any product or face amount -- or beneficiary -- changes.
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MaxHerr
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