- Amount
- $482,000 (court-ordered payment to our client)
- Counsel
- Interpleader Law
- Result for
- The insured's former husband, the beneficiary of record, our client
- Case
- Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Estate of Smith
- Court
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- Docket
- No. 1:23-cv-00722-SAB
- Decided
- November 30, 2023
- Issue
- Whether a divorce judgment confirming a policy to the insured revoked a former spouse's designation, resolved by agreement
The insured named her then-husband as beneficiary of a policy issued decades before her death. Their divorce judgment confirmed the policy to her as her separate property, but she never changed the beneficiary. The insurer learned of her death years later, and her estate’s administrator contested the former husband’s designation, arguing that the divorce judgment ended his rights. The court found the insurer faced competing claims, discharged it and barred further suits against it.
We represented the former husband. The court did not decide the estate’s theory. The claimants resolved the dispute by agreement, and the court entered final judgment ordering the amount shown, plus accrued interest, paid to our client as beneficiary of record.
What it shows. A divorce judgment that awards a policy to the insured does not automatically answer who is beneficiary, and a former spouse who remains of record has a real claim.
Read the court's order
- Order granting interpleader relief (Sept. 8, 2023) (PDF)
- Order granting entry of final judgment (Nov. 30, 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