King v. Travelers Insurance Company

Beasley, Judge.

The question for decision in this case is whether the proceeds of a workers’ compensation settlement agreement, payable after the employee’s death to designated beneficiaries other than the employee’s spouse, constitute an asset of his estate which could be awarded to his spouse in a year’s support proceeding.

In July 1985, Joseph Edward King, Jr., sustained an on-the-job injury. He claimed that this injury resulted in his total and permanent disability, but his employer and its workers’ compensation insurer, Travelers Insurance Company, denied this. Eventually the…