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rswiggins · Jul 31, 2009, 04:18 AM

My husband's ex-girlfriend has a life insurance policy on him. They do have a 6 year-old daughter together. But, the ex-girlfriend is the benificiary and thinks that if anything happens to my husband, she will be the one making funeral arrangements! Can she legally have this policy??

tickle · Jul 31, 2009, 04:39 AM

Originally Posted by rswiggins

My husband's ex-girlfriend has a life insurance policy on him. They do have a 6 year-old daughter together. But, the ex-girlfriend is the benificiary and thinks that if anything happens to my husband, she will be the one making funeral arrangments!! Can she legally have this policy???

If she is paying the premiums, she has every right to have the policy on your husband, however, I don't know about funeral arrangements. She would have to have a death certificate to collect on the insurance policy; I don't know how she would get that seeing that she is no longer next of kin.

Tick

hkstroud · Jul 31, 2009, 05:03 AM

Yes, she can legally have the policy. She has an insurable interest you husband's life, namely their daughter.

That has nothing to do with who would make funeral arrangements. Unless otherwise specified in a will, this is normally done by a family member or next of kin.

Tickle,
A death certificate is a matter of public record and available to everyone.

tickle · Jul 31, 2009, 05:21 AM

Originally Posted by hkstroud

Tickle,
A death certificate is a matter of public record and available to everyone.

Thanks for pointing that out, hk.

Tick

nikosmom · Jul 31, 2009, 06:48 AM

Originally Posted by hkstroud

Yes, she can legally have the policy. She has an insurable interest you husband's life, namely their daughter.

This is what's most important here. At the time a life insurance policy is taken out, there has to be an insurable interest (regardless of how the relationship may change after that). So yes, she can legally have a policy on him. In fact, she still has an insurable interest in him but as long as interest was present at the time of the application, the policy is valid.

As for who makes the funeral arrangements, normally the spouse would be first in line to handle this but there's no hard and fast rule about it. This would be a great time for you and your husband to sit down and have this discussion. Find out what his wishes are and look into pre-purchasing plots, etc.

JudyKayTee · Jul 31, 2009, 12:46 PM

Been there, done this - I have no idea where OP lives.

The person who took out the life insurance policy (as Nikosmom says) has an absolutely right to pay the premiums and continue as beneficiary. Could she now take out a policy on him? No - not without his consent.

As far as funeral arrangements - the ex has no legal standing. I have no idea why anyone is lumping life insurance/funeral arrangements into the same package.

Yes, it's a good idea to discuss funeral arrangements. However, a LOT of people don't want to do so. It isn't easy when you are the spouse and making "these" arrangements and the "ex" (in my case the ex-wife) is busy over here making "those" arrangements but, again, the surviving spouse is the one with all the legal rights.

To repeat - this policy and funeral arrangements are two different issues.

And, yes, death certificates in SOME States are public record - but not in all States.

nikosmom · Jul 31, 2009, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

Could she now take out a policy on him? No - not without his consent.

She couldn't take a policy out on him without his consent but she still could take a policy out on him. As the father of her child, she definitely still has an 'interest' in him and would be affected by his death.

Fr_Chuck · Jul 31, 2009, 06:06 PM

Yes as part of my divorce and child custody I have to keep a 50,000 policy on myself with my ex getting the money

As the second part, no that does not give her any rights to do funeral arrangements, she only gets money from life insurance.

JudyKayTee · Aug 2, 2009, 07:09 AM

Originally Posted by nikosmom

She couldn't take a policy out on him without his consent but she still could take a policy out on him. As the father of her child, she definitely still has an 'interest' in him and would be affected by his death.

That's what I meant - she needs his consent to take out a new policy on him. Part of divorce settlements in NY all the time. "Ex" often obtains the policy and pays the premium.

Happens when "ex" cannot be trusted to carry insurance.