Can I get proceeds from the insurance my husband was holding at the time of his death?
Full Question:
I and my husband were living separately. We were not divorced, but did not had warm relations. My husband passed away two months back in an accident. I’m not provided for in his will. Can I get proceeds from the insurance he was holding at the time of his death? We were living in North Dakota, and I’m still living there.
12/28/2016 |
Category: Wills and Es... » Life Insurance |
State: North Dakota |
#28947
Answer:
Therefore, a surviving wife may be entitled to the insurance proceeds of the deceased husband if she exercises the elective share within the time limit set in the North Dakota Century Code.
Procedure and time limit to claim elective share
N.D. Cent. Code, § 30.1-05-01. (2-202)
1. The surviving spouse of a decedent who dies domiciled in this state has a right of election, under the limitations and conditions stated in this chapter, to take an elective share amount equal to fifty percent of the augmented estate.
30.1-05-05. (2-211) Proceeding for elective share - Time limit.
1. Except as provided in subsection 2, the election must be made by filing in the court and mailing or delivering to the personal representative, if any, a petition for the elective share within nine months after the date of the decedent's death, or within six months after the probate of the decedent's will, whichever limitation later expires. The surviving spouse shall serve a copy of the petition for the elective share on, and shall give written notice of the time and place set for hearing to persons interested in the estate and to the distributees and recipients of portions of the augmented estate whose interests may be adversely affected by the taking of the elective share. Except as provided in subsection 2, the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, described in subdivision b of subsection 2 of section 30.1-05-02, is not included within the augmented estate for the purpose of computing the elective share, if the petition is filed more than nine months after the decedent's death.
2. Within nine months after the decedent's death, the surviving spouse may petition the court for an extension of time for making an election. If, within nine months after the decedent's death, the spouse gives notice of the petition to all persons interested in the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, the court for cause shown by the surviving spouse may extend the time for election. If the court grants the spouse's petition for an extension, the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, described in subdivision b of subsection 2 of section 30.1-05 02, are not excluded from the augmented estate for the purpose of computing the elective-share and supplemental elective-share amounts, if the spouse makes an election by filing in the court and mailing or delivering to the personal representative, if any, a petition for the elective share within the time allowed by the extension.
3. The surviving spouse may withdraw a demand for an elective share at any time before entry of a final determination by the court.
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Right to insurance proceeds
30.1-05-02. (2-201, 2-204 through 2-208)
The value of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to the decedent's surviving spouse, which are composed of all property that passed outside probate at the decedent's death from the decedent to the surviving spouse by reason of the decedent's death, including:
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(3) Proceeds of insurance, including accidental death benefits, on the life of the decedent, if the decedent owned the insurance policy immediately before death or if, and to the extent that, the decedent alone and immediately before death held a presently exercisable general power of appointment over the policy or its proceeds, the amount included is the value of the proceeds, to the extent that they were payable at the decedent's death;
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