- Amount
- $1,799,000 (court-ordered payment to our client)
- Counsel
- Interpleader Law
- Result for
- The insured's named primary beneficiary, our client
- Case
- Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Evans
- Court
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
- Docket
- No. 4:24-cv-03276
- Decided
- January 30, 2025
- Issue
- Whether a divorce decree's life insurance requirement overrode the last beneficiary designation under ERISA plans, resolved by agreement
The insured had employer life and accidental death coverage under ERISA plans. His last beneficiary designation named our client as primary beneficiary of nearly all of it. A trustee for one of his children claimed the benefits under an earlier divorce decree that required him to keep life insurance for that child, raising the unsettled question of whether such a decree can control ERISA life benefits. The insurer filed an interpleader, deposited the benefits and was discharged.
We represented the named beneficiary. The claimants resolved the dispute by agreement, settling the competing life insurance and support claims, and the court entered a final judgment ordering the amount shown paid to our client.
What it shows. A divorce-decree insurance requirement can cloud a large ERISA payout, and a named beneficiary can still secure most of the fund through a court-ordered resolution.
Read the court's order
- Order granting deposit and discharge (Dec. 20, 2024) (PDF)
- Final judgment and order of interpleader disbursement (Jan. 30, 2025) (PDF)
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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