- Amount
- $69,000 (death benefit share awarded to our client)
- Counsel
- Interpleader Law
- Result for
- The insured's former partner, a named 50% beneficiary, our client
- Case
- Minnesota Life Insurance Co. v. Roberson
- Court
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington
- Docket
- No. 2:18-cv-01058-RAJ
- Decided
- August 2, 2019
- Issue
- Whether Washington's revocation statute applies when an unmarried, unregistered relationship ends
The insured named his daughter and his then partner as equal beneficiaries of his group life coverage. The relationship ended within about a year, but he never changed this designation. After his death, his daughter received her half. When the former partner claimed the other half, the daughter’s side argued that he had kept her on the policy by mistake and that Washington’s revocation statute removed her. The insurer interpleaded and was discharged.
We represented the former partner. The court held that the statute applies only when a marriage or a state-registered domestic partnership is dissolved or ends, and the insured and our client had neither married nor registered. Uncorroborated claims and speculation about what the insured meant to do could not override the designation he actually left in place. The court granted summary judgment for our client.
What it shows. Revocation-on-divorce statutes reach only the relationships they name. Ending an informal relationship does not change a beneficiary designation.
Read the court's order
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.
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