Legal Question in Insurance Law in Texas

My husband died recently. He did not ever finish changing beneficiaries for his life insurance. Even though I have our marriage liscense, his divorce papers from first wife and his will stating that everything is left to me, I cannot get his life insurance. It is through the State of Texas retirement system. Do I have any recourse or will his exwife get it?


Asked on 1/19/10, 11:45 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Leon David L. Leon, P.C.

It depends on when he purchased the policy, and the language of his divorce decree, and whether or not there are children of either marriage. I'm working on a case similar to this right now. These cases are very fact specific, so a general answer isn't available, but I'll take a stab.

To answer your question, if the policy is not ERISA, then Texas law will typically treat a divorced spouse as "predeceased" for purposes of policy distribution IF the policy was purchased prior to the divorce AND the divorce decree does not require the ex-spouse to be a beneficiary.

Either way, you're in for a fight. Feel free to call me to discuss.

Dave

Please see my disclaimer:

http://leonlaw.com/askalawyer/disclaimer

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Answered on 1/24/10, 12:43 pm


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