The Insurance Company Said the Divorce Ended Her Claim
He bought the policy while they were married and named his wife as the sole primary beneficiary. There was no contingent beneficiary. The death benefit was more than half a million dollars.
The Divorce Decree Said One Thing. The Beneficiary Form Said Another.
They married in 2018 and divorced in 2021. The agreed decree was specific. Any insurance policy covering his life was awarded to him as sole and separate property, and his former spouse was divested of all right, title, interest, and claim in it. Both of them signed off on the form and substance of that decree, and the court entered it as a final judgment.
Thirteen Days Into the ICU, Every Beneficiary Changed
He was seventy five and had been married nineteen years. Over his career he had built a portfolio of annuities and brokerage accounts worth more than $2.5 million. His wife had been the sole primary beneficiary on every one of them for years. A portfolio report from a few years earlier listed her at 100 percent across the board, with his estate as contingent.
The Beneficiary Change Signed in Hospice
A woman dying of breast cancer signed a form in a hospice facility changing the beneficiary on her employer group life insurance policy. She named her two sisters and two longtime coworkers. She died nine days later.
The Beneficiary Form That Was Never Filed
In her final weeks, after a stroke, she made her wishes clear more than once. She told her pastor. She signed a document about her assets that a nurse witnessed.
The Beneficiary Change Made During a Mental Health Crisis
A man in his thirties was badly injured in an accident. In the months that followed his family watched him change. Severe mood swings. Depression.
The Denial Based on a Counselor’s Notes
A man died at the end of December. His wife was the sole primary beneficiary of his $300,000 life insurance policy, and she had been named there from the start. She gave the company everything it asked for, including the death certificate.
The Policy With No Beneficiary at All
A man spent most of his career at a large bank. He carried life insurance and accidental death coverage through his employer worth $350,000 combined. When he died he had never filled out a beneficiary form for either one.
Two Days Before She Died, the Beneficiary Changed
A woman bought a $370,000 life insurance policy in 2017 and named her mother as the beneficiary. Her breast cancer had been treated and everyone believed it was behind her.