Life Insurance beneficiary $50K mistake...

I recently was notified that I was still the beneficiary on a life insurance policy owned by my ex-husband, who died last winter. We've been divorced for almost fifteen years, and he never changed the beneficiary. His mother, the contingent beneficiary, predeceased him, and no will could be found, although I have a copy of one from 1998 that names me and his mom.

He was totally irresponsible financially, like many practicing alcoholics, and when we got divorced he left me holding the bag on a sizable amount of credit card debt, and never did pay the financial settlement ordered by the court. So now it looks like I will get paid back, and then some. Other than financials, it was a pretty friendly divorce.

I'm bringing this up mostly to remind those TFPers that are divorced that they need to attend to matters like beneficiaries for insurance, retirement benefits, etc.

 

Sad
And some karma.

My dad is the same way...but his excuse is not alcoholism...it's just irresponsibility and procrastination.
But, I don't want anything.
I've lived my life without him...and when he goes, so does it.
Sad and some karma.
Doesn't really matter...most like that are in their own little world, unaware of those out of sight.

 

And for employees that work somewhere with an EAP, that may all be covered under that. Both my husband and I get free will assistance via our EAPs. I figure it's a benefit most might overlook.

 

even the lawyer benefit is a good one. get any kind of ticket and send it to them, it pays for itself really.

 

my coworker just did it via the legal benefit we have at work something like $7 a paycheck and they do wills and other legal stuffs. my friend swears by it, even sends them his traffic tickets to fight.

 

Take a look at some of the online will writing sites. They really help get you thinking in an organized way about what needs to go into your will.

That means less time and less money spent with an attorney.

A will may also need attention if you move to a different jurisdiction. I had to change a couple of things when I moved from Massachusetts to Nebraska.

 

I once used the Nolo book to write my grandfather's will. I'm proud to say it stood up in court after my grandmother protested it; I guess she was surprised that Grandpa left her nothing, even though she had divorced him about six years earlier.