Contest the beneficiary of a life insurance policy in Florida? 6 points to challenge the beneficiary of a life insurance policy

I write a lot about how you can contest a will in Florida but did you know you   can also contest a life insurance beneficiary? In Florida under six particular circumstances you may be able to challenge thebeneficiary of a life insurance policy that gets paid after the decedent’s death. Do you think that your grandmother only left your cousin as the beneficiary because he threatened to stop paying for her nursing home? There is something you can do. Challenge the person’s right to be a beneficiary of the life insurance. Here are six ways how. 

1. Unjust Enrichment.  In rare situations, if someone pays of the premiums on the life insurance policy and is “supposed” to be the beneficiary of the policy but for some reason is not, the law of unjust enrichment can assign the death benefits to the person who paid for the policy.  For example, in the case of Kowalski v. Jackson National, from the Southern District of Florida, the death benefit was directed in favor the person making the premium payments under an unjust enrichment theory. This is not the normal common case though and if you are looking to challenge a beneficiary, read on and see if any other theories apply to you.
2. Undue Influence / Fraud / Trickery.  A change to the beneficiary designation can be undone if undue influence, fraud, or trickery can be established.  This is the category where we see the most challenges by far.  In a typical case, the life insurance policy is left in equal shares to the owner’s children.  Due to the unscrupulous acts of one of the children, that child, through coercion, is able to force the owner to make a change.
3. Slayer Statute. If the named beneficiary kills the insured person, the beneficiary is not entitled to receive the insurance death benefit.  For example, Florida law, at Section 732.802(3), provides as follows:

A named beneficiary of a bond, life insurance policy, or other contractual arrangement who unlawfully and intentionally kills the principal obligee or the person upon whose life the policy is issued is not entitled to any benefit under the bond, policy, or other contractual arrangement; and it becomes payable as though the killer had predeceased the decedent.

Obviously this is one of the less common challenges here in Florida, but its also the best one for movies.

4. Forgery.  This is the easiest and most straightforward way in which to challenge the life insurance beneficiary designation.  If a less than wholesome family member, neighbor or caregiver obtains a form to change the beneficiary designation and simply forges the signature of the policy owner, the change is null and void – even after the life insurance death benefit is paid out.  Of course, the forgery has to be pretty blatant to be successful on this claim as it is your burden to show the fraud to the Court. This can be a hard task to accomplish.
5. Lack of Capacity.  In order to effectuate a change to a beneficiary designation on a life insurance policy, the owner of the life insurance policy must have the mental capacity to make the change.  If the owner of the policy did not have capacity, the change to the beneficiary designation can be invalidated.  This can be easier to prove that fraud because of advances in medical technology. It is difficult (although not impossible) to claim lack of capacity without a prior diagnosis of dementia or similar disease of the mind.
6. Divorce.  Even if the beneficiary designation lists an ex spouse as the beneficiary,the laws of many states will treat the ex-spouse as having already passed away,nullifying the beneficiary designation in favor of the ex-spouse.  For example, Florida law, at Section 732.703, cancels many of the beneficiary designations on non probate assets such as life insurance that still name the ex-spouse as the beneficiary.