More than fifty percent of married Americans have been married at least once before. Some were married for a short time to their first spouse, others for many years.
A problem of epidemic proportion grows exponentially among many of those families with each passing day. Here it is in bold face:
THE BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION ON THEIR LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES, RETIREMENT PLANS, 401-k's, TRUST ACCOUNTS AND THE LIKE, STILL HAVE THEIR FORMER SPOUSE LISTED RATHER THAN THEIR NEW ONE.
Beneficiary designations are private, immediate and are irrevocable by anyone other than the designator. Consequently, if a person has not changed the beneficiary designation from his former spouse to his current spouse, and he dies, the proceeds automatically go to his former spouse.
"I LEAVE ALL OF MY WORLDLY POSSESSIONS TO MY WIFE," IN A WILL DOES NOT INCLUDE WHAT HAS BEEN PROVIDED FOR IN SPECIFIC BENEFICIARY DESIGNATIONS.
Ohhhh...Bill, I'm still on the first one but if I wasn't ...and that happened! I'd be some mad!
That's worse than sharing a cemetary plot!
Thanks Bill, great information and so very important. I've been married twice (once in university for two years when I was young and foolish; hey, what am I saying? I'm still foolish, just not so young anymore !!!!)
and then to my son's Dad for 15 years.
It's easy to see how these things can get lost in the shuffle and I'm sure your post will help many people....
Jo
I'm proud of all of you who have had just one mate. But maybe you could help others, your pseudo-Gabor friends, by just telling them about this.
There are also those whose mates have died and they have never gotten around to changing the beneficiary designations on their own policies from the deceased mate to someone else...maybe their kids or their church or both. This needs to happen.
Tom,
Perhaps you know that there is a Common Law that says that unless a beneficiary or the person making the payments on the policy on someone else's life had a BENEFICIAL INTEREST in that person's life, the policy will be considered invalid and the premiums will be refunded to the payer.
So I've always wondered why this business with an ex-spouse as a beneficiary doesn't fall into that catagory, and the proceeds of the policy just be paid the estate of the insured so they can be distributed in accordance with the will.
But then in some jurisdictions, a will that was signed prior to a divorce is not considered valid, so it must be rewritten. Anyway, it's a can of worms, and it's one can of worms that everyone who loses a spouse for whatever the reason, needs to immediately address.
Kim, one-half of America is on your side! In my case, I have an ex, but after Patty is well taken care of, I wouldn't mind leaving something for her, too. In fact I actually had that arranged until she remarried. I figured the new guy would and could take care of that, so I had the beneficiary designation changed.
Eric -- I don't think so. In my case I took all of the debts and gave her a big wad of cash. But I've never regretted it. She was and is a fabulous person. It was just time to move on.
Miss Kim -- Then just let him suffer and waller in his debts. It goes in the catagory of adding insult to injury.