Update your beneficiaries!

[HoneyBBQ]

I've never understood people that "forget" to do this. Or have a will which supercedes beneficiary designations... I just don't get it. 

[Deleted]

I can see why the court didn't interfere.  One guy I knew was required to keep his Ex as beneficiary on his employer's coverage.  He hadn't remarried, but since it was part of the settlement, I suspect that if he had, he'd have kept the Ex as beneficiary.  It could be a perfectly reasonable way to provide for an Ex who had primary custody of minor children.

I agree, though, that it should be a conscious decision and not something resulting from inaction.

[973beachbum]

I don't know why people keep wasting money suing over this. A life insurnce policy is a contract. If the person kept whomever as the beneficiary then that is whom the contract will pay it to if they die. If it really is so important why didn't she make sure he changed it before he died?

I used to work for an insurance company. I want a dollar for everytime someone called and freaked out at me because they were pissed about what their spouse had done.

[Deleted]

I'm the beneficiary on all my exes stuff.  If he dies the Chinese whore is going to be surprised. (oh wait, did I call her a whore again...thought I was over that.  LOL)

He's required to keep me as the beneficiary on his life insurance policy as part of the divorce settlement, but the 401K he just forgot.  He hasn't changed his login since we were divorced, and I'm down as getting 100%. 

Unfortunately, they've had a kid now, so I might feel a little guilty about just giving her enough to leave the country, which was my original plan.  I don't really want to deprive my son of his sister.

[Deleted]

I know that FIL's 3rd wife was pretty pissed that wife #2 got both his Navy pension AND his life insurance. But it was in the divorce settlement.

Wife #3 was either stupid and didn't understand what would happen when FIL died or wishful that he was going to keep supporting her in the life to which she had been accustomed. It was her third marriage too so you would have thought she would have asked some pointed questions.

If she hadn't been so nasty at the end, we could have felt sorry for her.

[zibazinski]

Isn't that great when people get their come uppance? Mom put me on as her beneficiary about four months before she died. Was that louse that let her die surprised!

[Deleted]

Jun 4, 2013 8:26:59 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I'm the beneficiary on all my exes stuff.  If he dies the Chinese whore is going to be surprised. (oh wait, did I call her a whore again...thought I was over that.  LOL)

He's required to keep me as the beneficiary on his life insurance policy as part of the divorce settlement, but the 401K he just forgot.  He hasn't changed his login since we were divorced, and I'm down as getting 100%. 

Are they legally married?  Since the 401k is a qualified plan, federal law is going to trump the beneficiary designation if they are.  Pensions and 401ks protect the current spouse's rights unless there was a legal order submitted to the plan administrator after the divorce.  

If they are just shacking up, you are golden!

[973beachbum]

Jun 4, 2013 19:00:44 GMT -5 @tamarack said:

Jun 4, 2013 8:26:59 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I'm the beneficiary on all my exes stuff.  If he dies the Chinese whore is going to be surprised. (oh wait, did I call her a whore again...thought I was over that.  LOL)

He's required to keep me as the beneficiary on his life insurance policy as part of the divorce settlement, but the 401K he just forgot.  He hasn't changed his login since we were divorced, and I'm down as getting 100%. 

Are they legally married?  Since the 401k is a qualified plan, federal law is going to trump the beneficiary designation if they are.  Pensions and 401ks protect the current spouse's rights unless there was a legal order submitted to the plan administrator after the divorce.  

If they are just shacking up, you are golden!

Did you read the link in the OP? The US supreme court said that what is on the contract rules per federal law. So if you want your new spouse to get your life insurance policy you need to change your beneficiary period.

[Deleted]

Jun 5, 2013 7:05:44 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

Jun 4, 2013 19:00:44 GMT -5 @tamarack said:

Are they legally married?  Since the 401k is a qualified plan, federal law is going to trump the beneficiary designation if they are.  Pensions and 401ks protect the current spouse's rights unless there was a legal order submitted to the plan administrator after the divorce.  

If they are just shacking up, you are golden!

Did you read the link in the OP? The US supreme court said that what is on the contract rules per federal law. So if you want your new spouse to get your life insurance policy you need to change your beneficiary period.

tamarack is talking about the 401K and may be right there.  I know when setting up an account or changing a beneficiary with the 401K, if you want the beneficiary to be anyone other than your spouse, your spouse has to sign something saying that's ok.  What I'm not sure of is how it works after it's been set up and you divorce and remarry.

[nogooddeed]

I saw this situation a year ago.  A male co-worker died of an aneurysm.  He was divorced from the first wife with whom he had two college age sons.  He had remarried less than a year before he died.  He never changed the beneficiary on his employer provided life insurance so the first wife inherited $750,000.  To her credit, she put the funds in a trust with her sons as beneficiaries.  Perhaps she should have shared some with the new wife, but in my view, the two biological sons, who are great kids who won't blow the money, definitely deserved the lion's share of the inheritance.  The new wife did inherit other assets so it's not as if she was completely left in the cold.

[973beachbum]

Jun 5, 2013 7:30:36 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Jun 5, 2013 7:05:44 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

Did you read the link in the OP? The US supreme court said that what is on the contract rules per federal law. So if you want your new spouse to get your life insurance policy you need to change your beneficiary period.

tamarack is talking about the 401K and may be right there.  I know when setting up an account or changing a beneficiary with the 401K, if you want the beneficiary to be anyone other than your spouse, your spouse has to sign something saying that's ok.  What I'm not sure of is how it works after it's been set up and you divorce and remarry.

That is also true of life insurance, but it only comes into play if you are signing up or changing your beneficiary.  If you sign up while married to Joe and later divorce him and marry Jack you have to physically change your beneficiary in order for you new husband to be your new benificiary.  If your leave it alone it stays with your first husband as the benificiary.

This is probably why people don't change their beneficiary a lot of times.  They are under the mistaken belief that the act or marrying someone else automatically makes them the beneficiary for things like a life insurance policy. The reality is it won't.

[Deleted]

You don't need spousal consent to name someone else as beneficiary on your life insurance policy.  I just got one last year that just has my ex husband and my first son named on it and current husband didn't have to sign anything.

From what I've been reading online, Federal law overrides any beneficiary designation for 401Ks unless a spousal waiver form is in place. If not, the current spouse is entitled to the entire amount.  In community property states the same may hold true for IRAs.  So, I'm SOL on getting that money. 

[Deleted]

Yes, the recent decision is limited to insurance policies so Minnesotapaintlady is SOL on the 401k as long as the new wife is in the picture.

[Deleted]

Or you could have the evil new wife that forces the ex to remove the children from the policy when their parent goes terminal.  My ex was a shit, but he never would have done that to his kids voluntarily. I won the lawsuit (kids really, but I had to file since one was still a minor).


This is why I LOVE my attorneys.  They covered the kids in the divorce decree.  The lawsuit cost me a bundle, but the kids got what was agreed in the decree & it cost evil new wife 3X since the judge was pissed off and awarded me legal fees (almost never happens in this state).  One trick here is that you have to encumber a specific life insurance policy.  If the attorneys hadn't known that or he changed policies I would have been SOL.  So many hoops to jump through!!  Attorneys that are experienced and expert in the area of law are invaluable!

Can I say it again - I love my attorneys!!!!!  Well worth the millions of pennies i have paid them