In Collister v. Feller, a Washington court of appeal concluded that a man who was named as his ex-wife’s beneficiary on her life insurance policy is not required to distribute proceeds to later beneficiaries named in her will. A testator can only direct the distribution of life insurance proceeds to be payable to the testator, estate, or personal representative. The ex-husband in this case was named as the personal representative, and the will was not eligible to direct proceeds.
See Julianne Tobin Wojay, Named Beneficiary Trumps Testator’s Later Bequest, Bloomberg, August 11, 2016.
Special thanks to Naomi Cahn (Harold H. Greene Professor of Law, George Washington University School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
