Texas, like many other states, prohibits a killer from receiving life insurance proceeds or inheriting from an estate. Such prohibitions are commonly referenced as either a "slayer statute" or a "slayer rule." The public policy is obviously that a killer should not financially benefit from a death he or she willfully causes. Given the sizes of many estates and life insurance policies, such scenarios are unfortunately not uncommon. Certainly, investigators and prosecutor will look to whether insurance or estate proceeds might have provided motive for a particular murder. There have even been some notorious cases of people taking out life insurance policies on acquaintances and then killing them for profit.
Read MoreFor decades, Texas law has provided that a designation of a spouse as a beneficiary in a life insurance policy or a will is rendered void by a divorce. The exceptions are limited. The provision regarding life insurance policies is found in Section 9.301 of the Texas Family Code. The provision regarding wills is found in Section 123.001 of the Texas Estates Code. These provisions often arise in my life insurance beneficiary dispute practice and in estate disputes.
Read MoreMuch of the "action" in probate litigation these days does not involve challenges to testamentary dispositions. Instead, I see more of a trend in my practice of challenges to beneficiary designations. Those include designations for:
Read MoreI routinely handle life insurance beneficiary disputes. As I mentioned in a previous post, the first issue I analyze is whether the life insurance policy is governed by state law or by a federal law known as ERISA. Many ERISA policy disputes involve claims by former spouses to life insurance benefits. Many states bar former spouses from receiving life insurance benefits if the designation was made prior to the divorce. But such state laws are generally superseded by ERISA. Often there is a claim that the former spouse waived their beneficiary status in the divorce decree.
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