- Amount
- $526,000 (court-ordered payment to our client, plus all accrued registry interest)
- Counsel
- Interpleader Law
- Result for
- The insured's girlfriend, the named beneficiary of most of the policy, our client
- Case
- American National Insurance Co. v. Hansen
- Court
- U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
- Docket
- No. 8:17-cv-00341-JSM-JSS
- Decided
- July 12, 2018
- Issue
- A challenge to the validity of a beneficiary change made weeks before the insured's death, resolved by agreement
The insured carried a $1,000,000 life insurance policy with American National. Weeks before he died in October 2016, a beneficiary change named our client, his girlfriend, to receive $750,000 and his former wife to receive $250,000. Their divorce agreement had required him to keep $250,000 of coverage for their child. The insured’s brother, as personal representative of his estate, and his sister challenged the validity of the change.
American National filed an interpleader in federal court in Tampa and deposited the proceeds. In October 2017 the court denied the former wife’s motion for partial summary judgment, finding a genuine factual dispute over the change form. In April 2018 our client moved for partial summary judgment. The claimants then settled. In July 2018 the court entered a consent judgment ordering $526,301 plus all accrued registry interest paid to our client, $375,000 to the insured’s siblings and estate, and $125,000 to the former wife and the child.
What it shows. When family members contest a late beneficiary change, a settlement can still keep most of the fund with the person the insured last named.
Read the court's order
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This summary describes the court's ruling; it is not legal advice about any other case.
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