Ex-Wife Ordered To Turnover Life Insurance Proceeds After Interest Was Extinguished

In 2008, the State of New York made revisions to the Estate Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL).  The new statute was intended to correct the inadvertent failure of a divorced spouse to eliminate an ex-spouse as beneficiary.  This article discusses The Matter of Suggs which dealt with a situation of a court dividing life insurance proceeds between the decedent’s estate and his divorced spouse.  The divorced decedent had carelessly forgotten to remove his ex-spouse as a beneficiary of his life insurance policy.  Under the new statute the ex-spouse is treated as having predeceased the testator and her interest in the life insurance proceeds were extinguished.  The New York Court decision can be read here.  People should not be overly reliant on the new law and should make sure to periodically review their insurance policies. 

See Philip Bernstein, Ex-Wife Compelled To Turnover Life Insurance Proceeds After Her Interest In Decedent’s Insurance Policy Was Extinguished, The New York Probate Litigation Blog, July 16, 2015.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse for bringing this article to my attention.