If my father committed suicide after murdering his wife and her son and their family is going to file a wrongful death suit against his estate, can they also go after his life insurance proceeds?
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If my father committed suicide after murdering his wife and her son and their family is going to file a wrongful death suit against his estate, can they also go after his life insurance proceeds?
My father shot and killed his wife, her son and then himself. He had a life insurance plan that was through his work. He worked for the city and had a 40k life insurance plan. Is it protected because it is supposed to go to me?
Asked on December 11, 2012 under Estate Planning, Colorado
Answers:
Catherine Blackburn / Blackburn Law Firm
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
You are probably entitled to the life insurance proceeds if the company will pay on a suicide. Some life insurance policies will not pay if the person died by suicide, so you have to check with your father's employer to see if that policy will pay. I do not practice in Colorado, but in most states, life insurance proceeds pass outside a person's estate. Therefore, you should be able to receive the proceeds free of the claims against your father's estate.
I would check with the city first to find out if the insurance will pay at all, and to verify that you are listed as the beneficiary. If both of these are accurate, then check with a probate attorney in your father's state to make sure that these people will have no claim to the life insurance proceeds. They should not have any claim.
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