Beneficiary

[Mknolan]

Jurisdiction

New York

My brother passed away in January, I recently received a letter from NYState (his employer) that I was named beneficiary on his life insurance policy along with his estranged wife. I am currently in the process of obtaining the documents they have requested in order to settle. My question is should his wife decide to contest this will she be successful?

 

[cbg]

A life insurance policy is not a will, and does not work like a will. Unless NY has a law that requires a spousal distribution to life insurance policies (I only know of one state that does and it's not NY) AND she was still legally married to him at the time of his death, she has no legal standing to protest how your brother chose to leave his life insurance.

My sympathies on the loss of your brother.

 

[adjusterjack]

Please don't open duplicate posts on the same topic. I've deleted the duplicate and moved Betty3's response to this thread:

Betty3: "If you are a named beneficiary, I don't see how she would win if she contested"

I agree with Betty3 and CBG. The life insurance company will issue separate checks to the two of you.

Obviously, the widow CAN contest the policy but she would have to sue the life insurance company to do it. That means she will have to pay an attorney and the litigation will delay her settlement indefinitely. If she did that, it's unlikely that she would win.

Go ahead and complete your claim as quickly as you can and don't worry about things that might not happen. There will be time enough to worry if they do happen.