In Stephenson v. Spiegle, rescission of pay on death designation is appropriate even without wrongdoing by the pay on death payee. After executing a will giving his estate to various family members, outright and in trust, the testator opened a payable on death account at a local bank naming his attorney as the beneficiary. At the testator’s death, the account held approximately one-third his entire estate. The trial court ordered that the attorney return the funds to the estate, finding that the testator’s unilateral mistake in naming the beneficiary entitled the estate to the remedy of rescission. The intermediate appellate court affirmed, finding that the evidence supported the finding that the testator mistakenly believed that naming his attorney as beneficiary would result in the funds passing under the will and that rescission was appropriate even in the absence of evidence of any wrongdoing by the attorney.
See Stephenson v. Spiegle, 58 A.3d 1228 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2013).
