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July 05, 2024 at 10:06 AM
A federal appeals court has ruled against a man’s ex-wife, and in favor of his father, in a case involving a life insurance policy purchased in Texas.
A Texas law eliminates the interests of an ex-spouse in an insurance policy once a couple is divorced.
A three-judge panel at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week found that the law applies to policies purchased before a couple was married, not just to couples that buy life insurance policies while they are married.
The court overturned a district court decision and awarded $100,000 in benefits from a term life policy purchased by Ian Simpson to his father, Jeffrey Simpson, rather than to Holly Moore, his ex-wife.
The policy: Ian Simpson bought the policy from Transamerica in February 2018. He named Holly Moore as the beneficiary and his father as the contingent beneficiary.
Simpson and Moore wed in September 2018. They divorced in January 2021.
In May 2021, Simpson died at age 32 when a man shot him while he was working as a chef in a hotel restaurant on the Oneida Nation Reservation near Green Bay, Wisconsin, according to Oneida Nation officials.
