Florida Unclaimed Property Case & “Lost” Life Insurance Policies–who inherits the money? (August 5, 2014)
A lot of beneficiaries or heirs at law or next of kin in Florida probates want to when they will receive their inheritance. And the personal representatives Palm Beach of Florida estates also want to distribute inheritances and close the estate. What about unclaimed property in Florida? A recent Florida appeals court case issued August 5, 2014 is the most recent case in memory aboutunclaimed Florida property.
Unclaimed Life Insurance Funds
- It seems that everyone involved in a Palm Beach probate sooner or later has a question about Florida unclaimed property
- You know, these small bank accounts “pop up”, after people forgot about them
- What about the contents of a safe deposit box in Boca Raton? Who gets what’s inside the Florida safe deposit box when everyone forgot about it?
- Well sometimes, just sometimes, there are life insurance proceeds — really big life insurance proceeds that estates Jupiter, Florida don’t know about
- Or, perhaps, beneficiaries and heirs don’t know about the life insurance
Unclaimed Property in Florida–and life insurance
- There is a Florida statute on unclaimed property
- Insurance companies are supposed to, supposed to, “remit” any life insurance fundsthat remain unclaimed to the Florida Department of Financial Services.
- So, personal representatives of those big Boca Raton estates, and, this is important,personal representatives and next of kin of those SMALL Boynton Beach estates orLake Worth trusts: be on the lookout !
- If the life insurance money is not “claimed” for a certain period of time, that’s called the “dormancy period”
- After the “dormancy period”, the life insurance money is supposed to go to the state of Florida.
What Can Palm Beach Probates and Estate Beneficiaries Do?
- So, if you are a beneficiary of a Palm Beach Gardens Estate, wouldn’t you want to know about life insurance policies and life insurance money that might be payable to the estate?
- Sometimes, people forget about the life insurance policies which they purchased, or which an employer bought for someone in, say, West Palm Beach
- In some cases of Florida life insurance policies, there is a mistake with the life insurance beneficiary. Remember that if the named insured is dead, a contingent beneficiary will take.
- Sometimes there is no contingent beneficiary listed or filled out, or sometimes thecontingent beneficiary is dead
- And, remember: if you were divorced and forgot to remove your “old,” or former, spouse, ex husband or ex wife, from the policy, there is a (relatively) new Florida probate law which says that a Florida divorce voids any beneficiary designation for the ex spouse (there are exceptions).
- So, my point is: if the ex wife or ex husband is named as the life insurance beneficiary of a policy, check out the Florida Probate Code because that money may go to anotherbeneficiary or to the Palm Beach estate.
- And sometimes, owners of life insurance policies in Broward County simply list the “estate” as the beneficiary, with an intent to name an individual later, but that doesn’t happen
- A recent case talks about when the insurance companies are supposed to turn over or remit life insurance money to the state of Florida.
- Thrivent Financial for Lutherans v. State of Florida
- Case No. 1D13-5299, Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal, Judge Wolf wrote the opinion, 39 Fla. L. Weekly D 1636