Background

          While married, the client’s husband took out a life insurance policy on his life naming his wife (our client) as the beneficiary. Subsequently, our client was divorced. In the divorce decree it stated that the husband kept the life insurance policy and he could name a different beneficiary. The husband never changed the beneficiary on the life insurance policy and passed away. The client, the ex-wife of the decedent, made a claim on the life insurance policy. The insurance company, after a lengthy investigation, denied her claim stating that as an ex-wife she is not entitled to the benefits.

Our Approach

          Our experienced life insurance litigation attorneys reviewed the life insurance policy, the divorce decree, and the denial letter from the life insurance company. We then conducted extensive research of our options and looked at similar fact patterns of cases throughout Missouri. After much discussion and exploration of a wide range of creative solutions, our life insurance attorneys made an appeal of the denial based off of Missouri statutes and case law. We sent a detailed letter to the insurance company outlining Missouri law and why it was proper for our client to recover the benefits. We demanded the policy limits from the life insurance company in addition to 9% interest per year from the time our client first submitted her application for life insurance benefits.

Outcome

          The insurance company, upon receiving our demand letter outlining Missouri law, immediately paid the policy limits in addition to 9% annual interest. Our client was extremely pleased. After having to deal with the insurance company for months only to be denied her benefits, she was able to get the policy limits plus interest in one month with our experienced life insurance attorneys.