Legal Advice - Old Life Insurance Policy

[F-One]

MIL died ~ 1 year ago. DW was executor of her estate which was less than $ 5K (we thought) and DW settled estate with county and heirs last year. MIL was on Medicaid and in nursing home at time of her death. There were 3 heirs and everything was split equally.
BIL came upon some papers of MIL with life insurance policy on MIL (policy is 10-15 years old). He contacted insurance company and found it is worth ~$ 17K and the beneficiary is deceased FIL.
Do we need go back to estate court and reopen estate or just deal with insurance company? Money would be split equally among the 3 heirs

 

[Martha]

Were there contingent beneficiaries? If so, you shouldn't have to run it through probate.

If not, I would call the lawyer that did the probate. Different states have different procedures for dealing with this kind of thing. It is complicated by the fact that the beneficiary has died.

 

[F-One]

Thanks Martha - Not sure about contingent beneficiaries, insurance company is sending some papers to DW per BIL. After we get those we will contact a lawyer since
FIL died a few years before MIL.


FYI, DW handled probate without a will due to small estate (no lawyers involved)



REMINDER TO ALL: UPDATE THOSE BENEFICIARIES AS THINGS CHANGE

 

[Martha]

If no contingent beneficiaries, then you will have to do what ever will make the insurance company happy.