Generally speaking, if you are the beneficiary of your ex-spouses insurance policy RSMo 461.051 governs. It states:

461.051. 1. If, after an owner makes a beneficiary designation, the owner’s marriage is dissolved or annulled, any provision of the beneficiary designation in favor of the owner’s former spouse or a relative of the owner’s former spouse is revoked on the date the marriage is dissolved or annulled, whether or not the beneficiary designation refers to marital status. The beneficiary designation shall be given effect as if the former spouse or relative of the former spouse had disclaimed the revoked provision.

2. Subsection 1 of this section does not apply to a provision of a beneficiary designation that has been made irrevocable, or revocable only with the spouse’s consent, or that is made after the marriage was dissolved, or that expressly states that marriage dissolution shall not affect the designation of a spouse or relative of a spouse as beneficiary.

3. Any provision of a beneficiary designation revoked solely by this section is revived by the owner’s remarriage to the former spouse or by a nullification of the marriage dissolution or annulment.

4. In this section, “a relative of the owner’s former spouse” means an individual who is related to the owner’s former spouse by blood, adoption or affinity and who, after the divorce or annulment, is not related to the owner by blood, adoption or affinity.

Essentially, the statute revokes your beneficiary designation. Don’t fret if you are in this situation. Our life insurance attorneys have successfully worked around this statute to recover for our clients.

          When considering whether you are able to collect on a life insurance policy as the ex-spouse you must review the divorce decree, the relevant statutes and your insurance policy amongst other documents. We have had cases denied based on the above referenced statute and we were still able to recover the full amount of the life insurance policy for our client plus 9% interest from the time demand was made! The insurance company won’t tell you that there are ways to get around this statute. 

          If you have been denied your rightful life insurance benefits because the insurance company claims you went through a divorce, contact our attorneys immediately. Missouri provides avenues for the ex-spouse to recover the life insurance benefits. Call today to claim your life insurance benefits!

If your life insurance claim has been denied based off of a prior divorce immediately contact our experienced life insurance lawyers.