Hello,

20 years ago my mother passed away from breast cancer - leaving behind 3 kids - me, my brother, and my sister. We were all raised by our father.

It was recently brought to our attention that my aunt (my mother's sister) had made an agreement with our mother before she died that she was to raise all of us and in return was signed over the life insurance money.

When my mother passed, my aunt refused to take all of us - so my father stepped in and took us. However, she kept ALL the life insurance money.

My sister, who is now 22, is having a difficult time paying for college. She wants to take legal action on my aunt. I told her that I would help all I could. I guess my questions are:

Do we have a case against my aunt?

Is their a statute of limitation on this issue?

Thanks for any answers.

Even if there was a case ( and I still don't think there is one) the statue of limitation on this would have ran out years ago.

The issue is that life insurance goes not to the estate but to the specific person who is listed as the beneficiary. So if your aunt was listed, she gets the money. While she may or may not have had an agreement to this, first it would be hard to prove. Sadly all of this could have been written into a trust or guardianship agreement, but by doing it informally it can lead to many issues of inforcement even if it was in writing.

But what the heck, talk to an attorney, she may pay something if an attorney scares her and the courts may find that the SOL would not start until the kids ( you) turned legal age) I don't think it would, since your dad would have had a right to sue in that case.

Your only other resolve would be to see the actual policy. A lot of times it is ill advised to leave the money to a minor but instead leave it to a responsible adult for the minor. If that were done then it should be in writing on the contract.

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Originally Posted by scmom

Hello,

20 years ago my mother passed away from breast cancer - leaving behind 3 kids - me, my brother, and my sister. We were all raised by our father.

It was recently brought to our attention that my aunt (my mother's sister) had made an agreement with our mother before she died that she was to raise all of us and in return was signed over the life insurance money.

When my mother passed, my aunt refused to take all of us - so my father stepped in and took us. However, she kept ALL the life insurance money.

My sister, who is now 22, is having a difficult time paying for college. She wants to take legal action on my aunt. I told her that I would help all I could. I guess my questions are:

Do we have a case against my aunt?

Is their a statute of limitation on this issue?

Thanks for any answers.

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I believe a life insurance policy stands on its own which means you cannot impose conditions, such as may have happened in this case. Secondly, your mother, because your father survived her, could not make legal arrangements for her sister, your aunt, to raise you because your father was your next-of-kin and your mother couldn't waive his rights.

Now, if he said, "Fine, you raise the kids," to the aunt, well, that's a different story.

I am aware of a lawsuit when one party named his wife/widow beneficiary of a large policy with the condition that his wife/widow would never marry, never "support" another spouse with the proceeds of the life insurance policy. He stated his intention many, many times in many, many places. And then he died, she remarried, his children sued, claiming breach of an agreement, and the NYS Court ruled that you cannot impose conditions on a life insurance policy which is ruled by the written word - naming the beneficiary.

This goes back maybe 10 years but I doubt it's changed.

My stepfather took his own life recently, he had f1 charges against him for GSI and rape. He confessed to what he did to me, can I sue for his life insurance policy for pain and suffering?