AboutAlexander J. Hay Expertise I can answer questions on trusts, wills, and specifically the use of Offshore Trusts and Companies in combination with Domestic entities to help with estate planning, tax minimization and asset protection.
Experience I am a U.S. attorney with offices in the United States and Belize. I have experience helping to protect assets, reduce taxes, and improve investment performance by utilizing global investment techniques.
Education/Credentials Harvard University, A.B. degree; University of Houston Law Center, J.D. Degree; Fulbright Scholar
Expert: Alexander J. Hay Date: 6/21/2008 Subject: Life Insurance Policy
Question My father passed away exactly 2years ago(I am now 19). He had a $50,000 life insurance policy. He and my mother divorced when I was 4. My Grandmother was an insurance agent at the time and she wrote up the Life Insurance Policy. When my father passed my mom was still the beneficiary on the policy. She took and spent all of the money. Were my sisters, brother and I suppose to get any share of that money? My mother did not use the money for anything that had to do with my father. She used the money for personal use. Is it legally all hers? Or was she suppose to split it all evenly?
Answer If she was the beneficiary of the policy, then the money was hers to spend as she liked.
If your father had wanted the money split equally he would have named the people on the policy as beneficiaries. If he "thought" this was unnecessary, he was wrong and it is too late to fix the situation.
That is why it is so important to deal with these issues before, not hope things work out after. Do you have an insurance policy? Do you have a will? Have you declared the beneficiaries you want? Have you spoken to your agent or attorney about what you need??? You cannot change the past, but you can make sure you don't repeat it.
