Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia

Your question is a little vague as to who is a beneficiary, because that is the question to be answered.

In general, insurance proceeds and similar activity is often identified as being with the executor or trustee, ON BEHALF OF a person's trust or will. So even though they are named as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, they are acting ON BEHALF OF the heirs, not in their own name.

So if life insurance pays to the executor or trustee it is NOT for them personally but it is FOR the "estate" or a trust, for the benefit of the heirs according to the will.

So in your case, it seems that the money should be received into the "estate" -- what the decedent owns at death -- and then divided among the heirs according to what the will commands.

Now, normally the insurance policy or bank account will SAY "John Jones, TRUSTEE" or perhaps "John Jones, TEE" to make it very clear what is going on. Or perhaps "John Jones, Executor"

If the insurance policy and bank account only uses the person's name, without any indication tha tthey are acting on behalf of the decedent's "estate" (will), then it is a question of FACT of what was intended.

It is possible that the same person acting as executor could SEPARATELY and INDEPENDENTLY be the recipiient of an insurance policy or share a bank account, which was not intended to go through the estate, but was meant for him or her alone.

It may be a difficult question to prove what was really going on.

I would certainly start with seeing whether anything in the will explicitly refers to life insurance and/or bank accounts shared with the executor. That would be a strong bit of evidence.

I have done these cases before, and I do practice near Richmond.

Note that having one attorney represent a group of people is not always easy. It is necessary to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest among the group of heirs, and have every one sign a waiver that there is no conflict of interest.

If the intent of the deceased testator was to have his or her assets shared equally among the surviving heirs as indicated in a will and the testator mistakenly named the executor as a beneficiary on assets that normally pass outside of probate such as life insurance or allowed such

executor to be a joint holder (with right of survivorship) on bank accounts,

the heirs should arrange for a consultation with a local attorney in the Amelia

County area who handles probate matters to discuss the situation. (The local bar association can likely provide a few names.)