Creedon & Gill attorney Peter J. Creedon recovered $1,000,000 for two children – along with some peace of mind for their mother – in a bitterly contested insurance dispute today.
A father – when separating from his wife – had promised to name his two daughters as beneficiaries of a $1,000,000 life insurance policy he owned.
Tragically, illness took him soon after he made the promise, and before he could make the changes to the policy to name his daughters as beneficiaries.
Even more tragic, a supposed power of attorney arose from this death bed used by his step father NOT to name the children as beneficiaries, but instead naming the dying man’s own mother an sister as beneficiaries. When these two tried to collect on the policy, the insurance carrier put the brakes on, They could see something was wrong.
Our office was retained and we filed suit seeking to rescind the power of attorney and for a declaration from the court obligating the insurer to pay the money into trust for the children.
We won, and went on to establish the children’s’ mother as guardian of their property in Surrogate’s Court. The Surrogate designated banks to hold the money recovered for the children. The mother of the children will be the Trustee of the funds now, supervised by the Court, and when they reach 18, the children will each get a nice head start on life.
We were very happy to get this excellent result for this family.