- Amount
- $300,000 (disputed death benefit awarded to our clients (with interest))
- Counsel
- Interpleader Law
- Result for
- The four beneficiaries added by the insured's change, our clients
- Case
- Midland National Life Insurance Co. v. Villalobos
- Court
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia
- Docket
- No. 1:22-cv-01117-TWT
- Decided
- February 14, 2023
- Issue
- Whether a divorce agreement requiring "a" life insurance policy gave children a vested interest in a policy bought years later
The insured bought a $1,000,000 policy naming his two children as equal beneficiaries. Shortly before his death, he changed the designation to keep each child at 35% and add four other beneficiaries for the remaining 30%. The children’s side then produced his divorce agreement from about ten years earlier, which required him to keep “a” $1,000,000 policy for the children. The insurer paid the undisputed amount, interpleaded the remaining $300,000 and was discharged.
We represented the four added beneficiaries. Georgia recognizes that a divorce decree requiring insurance for children can give them a vested interest that a later change cannot defeat, but only in the policy the decree covers. The agreement referred only to “a” policy, and nothing in it pointed to a policy bought nearly a decade later. The only evidence of an earlier policy was inadmissible hearsay. The court granted summary judgment for our clients and directed the fund, with interest, paid to them in the shares the change form set.
What it shows. A divorce obligation to carry “a” policy may not stop an insured from changing the beneficiaries of a different policy bought years later.
Read the court's order
- Discharge judgment (Aug. 2, 2022) (PDF)
- Opinion and order granting summary judgment (Feb. 14, 2023) (PDF)
For a detailed legal summary of this decision, see interpleader.com's decisions library.
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This summary describes the court's ruling; it is not legal advice about any other case.
Back to all results · Interpleader lawsuits · Beneficiary disputes