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Date: 06-21-2022
Case Style:
Roland bou Dalha Ghoussoub v. Marie Charles Yammie, a/k/a Mary Yamie and Reliastar Life Insurance Commpany
Case Number: 2022OK 64
Judge:
Court: Supreme Court of Oklahoma on appeal from the District Court, Tulsa, County
Plaintiff's Attorney:
Defendant's Attorney: See above.
Description: Tulsa, Oklahoma insurance law lawyers represented the parties in a dispute over entitlement to proceeds from a life insurance policy.
Marie Yammine, as former wife and primary beneficiary of a two million dollar life insurance policy issued by Respondent ReliaStar Life Insurance Company to her former husband, Dr. Jean Bernard, sued seeking a declaratory judgment finding the contingent beneficiary. The District Court ruled that Roland Ghoussoub, was entitled to the policy's death benefit. Dr. Jean Bernard died after the trial court granted the parties' divorce but prior to final judgment on all issues. The trial court declared Marie Yammine and Dr. Jean Bernard were divorced and that 15 O.S.2011 § 178 (A) operated to revoke her beneficiary designation to the death benefits.
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¶12 Effective November 1, 1987, the Legislature enacted 15 O.S. § 178. [5] At issue here, § 178 addresses several types of written contracts, e.g., life insurance and retirement benefits, for which contracted death benefits are paid directly to a designated beneficiary upon death of the insured. The statute provides for revocation of all contract provisions in favor of a former spouse, subject to six exceptions.
¶13 In 1994, the Legislature amended § 178(A) to add "depository agreements" and "security registrations" to its list of written contracts with death benefits provisions subject to revocation. The same year, the statutes related to those contracts, e.g. "Payable on Death" (P.O.D.) accounts, were amended to make each expressly subject to 15 O.S. § 178. [6] In 2001, the Legislature enacted 18 O.S. § 381.39a to address P.O.D. joint accounts in a savings and loan association and also made them subject to § 178. See 18 O.S.2011 § 381.39a (B)(5).
¶14 In 2012, the majority rule in the U.S. continued to support that divorce per se does not affect a designated ex-spouse's right to receive life insurance proceeds; eight states, including Oklahoma, represented the minority position that a divorce automatically revokes an ex-spouse's beneficiary status. [7] By 2018, twenty-six states had adopted revocation-on-divorce laws. [8]...
Ghoussoub v. Yammine, 2022 OK 64 (Okla. 2022)
Outcome: The trial court's judgment was reversed and remand for further proceedings consistent with the opinion of the Supreme Court.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: