Employees must keep beneficiary designations updated, justices rule 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: June 5, 2013
Tags: beneficiary designation, divorce, Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Act, FEGLIA, life insurance, U.S. Supreme Court
It’s fair to assume Warren Hillman never intended that the proceeds of his federal employee life insurance policy would go to his ex-wife when he died unexpectedly in 2008.
But whatever Warren intended doesn’t matter. That’s because the U.S. Supreme Court has decided that the only thing that matters is that he did not change his beneficiary designation after his 1998 divorce.
Does federal law preempt state life insurance action?
Published: January 11, 2013
Tags: beneficiary designation, divorce, Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Act, federal preemption, U.S. Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a state law allowing a cause of action to recover a life insurance payment after its distribution is preempted by federal law.
Divorce did not automatically revoke insurance benefit
Published: October 30, 2012
Tags: beneficiary designation, divorce, life insurance, revocation
A life insurance policy taken out during a marriage that named the spouse as beneficiary is not automatically revoked upon the divorce of the parties, the Utah Court of Appeals has ruled.
Benchmarks: Stepsons get nothing under ERISA plan
Published: August 9, 2012
Tags: beneficiary designation, equitable adoption, ERISA
We’ll never really know who John Wayne Hunter wanted his Marathon Oil pension benefits to go to because he failed to have an up-to-date beneficiary designation on file when he died.
What we do know is that Hunter’s beloved stepsons won’t get the money. That’s because the 5th Circuit decided Tuesday that the dead man’s six siblings are his default beneficiaries under the terms of his ERISA plan.
Divorce decree doesn’t override beneficiary designation
Published: June 23, 2011
Tags: beneficiary designation, divorce, property division
A wife was entitled to death benefits under a deferred compensation fund awarded to the husband in the parties’ divorce, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled in reversing judgment.
