Boy, make sure you file your change of beneficiary designations. State law won't save you (or perhaps I should say can't). Then again, maybe we need a federal common law that revokes beneficiary designations of those covered by the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Act upon divorce?
I'm particularly interested in Justice Alito's concurrence, which supports the insured's beneficiary designation even in the face of divorce because it was an explicit choice (albeit a lot happened in the insured's life after the designation). Lots of state probate codes defeat beneficiary designations — and wills — in the wake of a divorce. Are we going to see more suspicion of default rules that defeat an expressed intent?
We're going to be hearing a lot more (or at least my trusts and estates students will be hearing a lot more) about Hillman v. Maretta down the road.
I didn't read the whole case, but I certainly got the gist of it. Wow! Look for a new window into malpractice cases involving nice sums of money.
Great post about Life Insurance and the Hillman V Maretta case.