Life Insurance Lawyer Serving Oregon

Absolutely not!. If you receive paperwork showing that the beneficiary changed after the policyholder’s death, it is most likely fraudulent. Contact us immediately for help.

In Oregon, a minor cannot be the direct recipient of life insurance death benefits. 

In the event the beneficiary is still a minor when the policyholder dies, a court will typically choose a custodian to oversee the minor beneficiary’s death benefits. In these cases, nothing can really be done to stop the custodian from using the minor’s payout for their own purposes.

If a life insurance policyholder wants a minor to receive the death benefit, they should consider setting up a trust that designated the minor as the beneficiary of the trust. That way the policyholder can appoint a trusted friend or family member to administer the trust and act as the minor’s fiduciary. 

We suggest hiring an estate planning attorney to help you understand the legalities of setting up a trust.

If the primary beneficiary dies before the policyholder and the policyholder did not designate a secondary or contingent beneficiary, the benefits may pay to the policyholder’s estate.

Of course! It is surprisingly common for policyholders to list only one of their children as a beneficiary on their life insurance policy with the expectation that they will share the payout with their siblings. Although the beneficiary will not be able to add their siblings to the policy after the policyholder’s death, there’s nothing stopping them from sharing their benefits once the benefits pay out.

Policyholders can change the beneficiary designation at any time during the policy term, as long as they are of sound mind and not under duress when they make the change. 

If you suspect this change was made fraudulently by someone other than the policyholder, or that the policyholder changed the beneficiary designation under duress, you can contest the beneficiary designation. These cases are notoriously difficult to prove, so contact an experienced OR life insurance attorney for help.

With a divorced or remarried policyholder, confusion may arise over who gets what, and this is governed by state law and varies state-to-state. A OR life insurance lawyer can explain what you’re entitled to as the policyholder’s spouse or former spouse, even if there is no court order governing the beneficiary designation.

If the policy is group life insurance through an employer you have sixty days under ERISA.

If the policy is an individual policy, it is prudent to file your claim denial dispute as soon as possible after getting the denial letter in order to have the best chance of finding and preserving evidence supporting payment of your life insurance claim. Having a life insurance lawyer handle your dispute is highly recommended so you can feel confident that everything is being done correctly.

You will have to do some investigation. You might contact the policyholder’s employer to ask if they offered group life insurance coverage as a benefit of working there. Also, look through old documents in search of life insurance paperwork and review bank statements to locate evidence of paid insurance premiums.

Life insurance policies typically have a grace period for unpaid premiums, so you may still be able to receive death benefits even if the policyholder missed a payment. Also, in cases where the lapse was not the fault of the policyholder, we have been able to get our beneficiary clients paid. 

If you are a beneficiary of a lapsed life insurance policy, the OR life insurance lawyers at Boonswang Law can help you understand what your rights are. Call us.