Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
If you re-marry does your original Will become not valid?
My mother was married to my Stepfather for 15 years.
They divorced and he re-married. In my mothers
divorce agreement, it states that his life insurance
policy was to be split three ways, part to my mother,
part to his grand children and part to his new spouse.
He also had a will when he and my mother were married
stating the same. He has recently died and his
current spouse has been paid off by the insurance company. She has been telling us she hadn't gotten the money yet, but we just found out she was paid off last month. So my question is: Is his original will not valid anymore? He never made a new one. Do we
have to sue his spouse for the money, or is there no point in that either? We did file a claim with insurance company, but that was no help.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: If you re-marry does your original Will become not valid?
The life insurance proceeds are not governed by the will. The settlement agreement requirement is similar to an agreement to make a will. As to the insurance policy it is an enforceable agreement to designate beneficiaries. The action is against the spouse for a constructive trust over the proceeds. The statute of limitations begins to run on the date of death. As a practical matter you don't want to wait to file the action as the proceeds may be be utilized and dissappear and become uncollectible unless the spouse has other assets.
Re: If you re-marry does your original Will become not valid?
You seem to raise three sets of issues. First, the will does not govern over the insurance policy. Even if valid, it would not control over the beneficiary designations in the policy. Second, there are special rules applying to wills when there is a remarriage. I would have to look at the will and the rules to give you a definitive answer. Lastly, you might have a claim for breach of the settlement agreement if it called for your mother to be a beneficiary of the insurance, but the insurance left her out. There are strict time limits, so you should talk to a lawyer right away.
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