Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York
My mother recently died has a will to have her estate split equally 5 ways between her childern. My brother is the sole beneficiary on a security mutual life insurance policy from 2007, the will was updated in 2013. Is he legally obligated to divide the monies he receives?
3 Answers from Attorneys
No. a beneficiary of insurance is outside estate proceeds.
I am issuing a qualified no. While the beneficiary designation overrides the Will provisios, a few questions arise - Why did Mom name him exclusively on the policy? Was this decision made for reasons that no longer existed at Mom's date of death? Did Mom forget she had done this, when she revised the Will? Did she think the Will controlled everything, including the policy beneficiary designation? Answers to these questions might lead to a different response.
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