A binding agreement revoked beneficiary designations

Prior to divorce, the spouses entered into a “mediated settlement agreement” pursuant to state law which divided their community property and released each other from all future claims related to the marriage. The wife died before the final decree of divorce could be issued.

The court held as matter of first impression that the agreement was binding even though divorce did not occur before the wife’s death and that the language of the agreement was sufficient to revoke her designations of the husband as the beneficiary of the wife’s nonprobate property.  Spiegel v. KLRU Endowment Fund, 228 S.W.3d 237 (Tex. App. 2007).