Question: I am the only living relative of my deceased father, and there is money from an insurance policy designated for a beneficiary, which is me his daughter. How can I obtain a next-of- kin document?
Loraine’s Answer: A life insurance policy passes by a beneficiary designation. If you are designated as the beneficiary of the policy, you should be able to provide a death certificate to the insurance company to prove that your father has passed away. You then need to fill out and submit the forms provided to you by the insurance company to prove that you are the person designated as the beneficiary. If the policy actually designates his “next of kin” as the beneficiary, either because that’s what he actually put or because he failed to complete the beneficiary designation himself and the policy’s default provision makes his next of kin the beneficiary in that case, then the insurance company should explain how they want you to prove that you are his next of kin. As an example of how you could do this, you might provide a birth certificate for yourself, showing that he was listed as your father. You might also need to provide the insurance company with an affidavit stating, for example, that he was not legally married at the time of his death and that you were the only child he ever had or adopted (or that any other children he had died before he did and none of those deceased children have any living descendants of their own).
In my experience, however, if you are NOT the designated beneficiary of the policy, the default beneficiary would normally be your father’s estate, not his next of kin. If his estate has become the beneficiary of the policy, you will have to find out if he had a Will and then either have the Will admitted to probate or, if he did not have a Will, figure out how best to deal with his probate estate, before you can claim the funds.
If he had a Will, the nominated Executor should offer it for probate. The insurance proceeds will be paid to the Executor, who will then need to fully administer the estate and make distributions as provided by the Will. If your father did not have a Will, however, then you will likely need to have his estate opened for administration and an Administrator appointed. If he had no Will, and if he did not have many creditors, an alternative process called a Petition for No Administration Necessary might also be available.
If you are truly his only close surviving relative and there are no other close surviving relatives (such as a spouse, other children, or grandchildren from any deceased children), then opening the estate for Administration will likely be straightforward; you need to complete the Petition for Letters of Administration and file it. As the sole heir, you would be entitled to any assets that remain after the estate administration has been completed. Any debts, expenses, and taxes must be paid from the estate before you will be entitled to the remaining insurance proceeds or other remaining estate assets.
Probate matters are not good do-it-yourself projects. Get an attorney who is experienced in probate matters to help you. The attorney should be able to help you figure out the situation with the insurance and the best approach.
Key Estate Planning Takeaways: A life insurance policy passes by a beneficiary designation. The insurance company will ask the designated beneficiary of a policy to provide a death certificate and other forms before funds are paid out. If the policy does not have any designated beneficiary, the default beneficiary is likely to be the insured person’s estate. This will mean that the estate needs to be properly addressed before the Executor or Administrator of the estate can make any claim for the insurance proceeds.
This “Q&A with Loraine” blog series is inspired by answers from Morgan + DiSalvo Partner Loraine DiSalvo to actual user questions posted by individuals on www.avvo.com. This blog is a more in-depth response than can be given on their site under their character limits for answers. To view the original question and Loraine’s original response, click here.