Life Insurance Question - Best Beneficiary Scenerio - Ned Advise - Causing Major Family Distress

[minerman]

Well, as expected she did not change things and unfortunately she has now died. She went to her grave fully believing that the BIL would do the honorable thing and would get the funds and distribute them as per her wishes which was to pay funeral, establish a small trust account for each grandchild and split the remaining funds between my wife and him. We tried everything to explain to the MIL that there was a chance of him not doing her wishes but in the end he convinced her that he was an honorable man and he was the most qualified to handle all of this to ensure that her wishes were carried out and that everyone would get their share so help him God, he would never try to go against her final wishes. He explained that he was a good business man and had experience and was even bonded and would make it all happen just like she asked. So she left him sole beneficiary on the insurance. Now that she is dead my wife asked him about the policy and guess what...... He denies there exists a policy! We called the insurance company two days after her death when he was trying to get CASH from us to pay expenses and we were able to find out that the policy still exists. We were able to find out the following day that he has reported her death and a claim is "pending". So, the new question is should we sue him? Mind you that my wife was previosly 50% beneficiary and she has a written note whish is signed and dated later than the beneficiary change that details how the money is to be distributed, exactly as I describe above. As I see it she actually believed that she was making him trustee and he would distribute the money, and I think that may be binding to some degree. Advise?

[duster1979]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your mother-in law.

Document everything and get a lawyer, that's about all you can do at this point.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by minerman

Well, as expected she did not change things and unfortunately she has now died. She went to her grave fully believing that the BIL would do the honorable thing and would get the funds and distribute them as per her wishes which was to pay funeral, establish a small trust account for each grandchild and split the remaining funds between my wife and him. We tried everything to explain to the MIL that there was a chance of him not doing her wishes but in the end he convinced her that he was an honorable man and he was the most qualified to handle all of this to ensure that her wishes were carried out and that everyone would get their share so help him God, he would never try to go against her final wishes. He explained that he was a good business man and had experience and was even bonded and would make it all happen just like she asked. So she left him sole beneficiary on the insurance. Now that she is dead my wife asked him about the policy and guess what...... He denies there exists a policy! We called the insurance company two days after her death when he was trying to get CASH from us to pay expenses and we were able to find out that the policy still exists. We were able to find out the following day that he has reported her death and a claim is "pending". So, the new question is should we sue him? Mind you that my wife was previosly 50% beneficiary and she has a written note whish is signed and dated later than the beneficiary change that details how the money is to be distributed, exactly as I describe above. As I see it she actually believed that she was making him trustee and he would distribute the money, and I think that may be binding to some degree. Advise?

The beneficiary designation on the life insurance policy supersedes any other document, including a will or trust so, no, you won't have any legal standing with that note. You can try to take him to civil court with that note though. Good luck.