NZ Life Insurance – What Will You Get!
Even the most easy going families have been hurled into turmoil when deciding on which family member gets what after the death of a somebody within the family. This situation can come about as a result of a life insurance contract being owned directly by the recently parted family member.
In this circumstance a claim payment will often form part of the estate and may be controlled by the will, which may be contested, or alternatively where the family member has died intestate (i.e. with no current will), then the estate director will make a decision on how to pay the claim proceeds. Bear in mind that the executor of the estate will be unable to pay out the proceeds until after their work is complete. Many months or even years may pass by before a payment may be made.
Many issues and problems will invariably arise if the ownership of the death benefits provided within a policy has not been structured in a way that accurately reflects the intended use of the proceeds.
Jointly owned policies by partners who subsequently separate is another area where problems can arise. The main issue here is that the policy will continue to be owned by the partners as joint tenants even after they separate. All policy decisions must then be agreed to by all of the policy owners before any changes can be made. It also results in the proceeds being automatically paid to the surviving partner in the event of the death of the other partner.
These outcomes might be in direct contrast to the intentions of the deceased. Only consent by all policy owners will enable a change in ownership of the policy, which is sometimes very hard to achieve especially if the partners have experienced a messy separation. A lot of clients try to avoid these problems by having their life insurance policies owned by their family trusts. NZ law, as it relates to life insurance policies, does not allow a family trust to own a life policy, however, the policy can be jointly owned by the individual trustees but the trust as an entity cannot own the policy.
Although It is possible to have different parts of the policy owned by different entities ['tenants in common'], and whilst this enables the proceeds of the policy to be paid only to the intended parties, it also creates other problems if one of the owners dies, and his/her section of the policy ownership passes onto his/her estate rather than automatically to the surviving owners as per the ‘joint tenants’ ownership structure. There is also the added complexity that arises if the trustees do not cooperatively act in accordance with the desires of the trust following the receipt of the claim payment.
Insurance policies will only be useful if they remain relevant to the client’s changing requirements, therefore regular reviews of the policy ownership structure are recommended to make certain that the insurance policy does what it was designed to do.
Click on the link to find out more about NZ Life Insurance and NZ Health Insurance.
g families have been hurled into turmoil when deciding on which family member gets what after the death of a somebody within the family. This situation can come about as a result of a life insurance contract being owned directly by the recently parted family member.
In this circumstance a claim payment will often form part of the estate and may be controlled by the will, which may be contested, or alternatively where the family member has died intestate (i.e. with no current will), then the estate director will make a decision on how to pay the claim proceeds. Bear in mind that the executor of the estate will be unable to pay out the proceeds until after their work is complete. Many months or even years may pass by before a payment may be made.
Many issues and problems will invariably arise if the ownership of the death benefits provided within a policy has not been structured in a way that accurately reflects the intended use of the proceeds.
Jointly owned policies by partners who subsequently separate is another area where problems can arise. The main issue here is that the policy will continue to be owned by the partners as joint tenants even after they separate. All policy decisions must then be agreed to by all of the policy owners before any changes can be made. It also results in the proceeds being automatically paid to the surviving partner in the event of the death of the other partner.
These outcomes might be in direct contrast to the intentions of the deceased. Only consent by all policy owners will enable a change in ownership of the policy, which is sometimes very hard to achieve especially if the partners have experienced a messy separation. A lot of clients try to avoid these problems by having their life insurance policies owned by their family trusts. NZ law, as it relates to life insurance policies, does not allow a family trust to own a life policy, however, the policy can be jointly owned by the individual trustees but the trust as an entity cannot own the policy.
Although It is possible to have different parts of the policy owned by different entities ['tenants in common'], and whilst this enables the proceeds of the policy to be paid only to the intended parties, it also creates other problems if one of the owners dies, and his/her section of the policy ownership passes onto his/her estate rather than automatically to the surviving owners as per the ‘joint tenants’ ownership structure. There is also the added complexity that arises if the trustees do not cooperatively act in accordance with the desires of the trust following the receipt of the claim payment.
Insurance policies will only be useful if they remain relevant to the client’s changing requirements, therefore regular reviews of the policy ownership structure are recommended to make certain that the insurance policy does what it was designed to do.
Click on the link to find out more about NZ Life Insurance and NZ Health Insurance.
October 6, 2010 | Posted by Daniel Fletcher
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