Haley v. Schleis

OPINION

PAYNE, Justice.

This appeal requires us to determine whether a divorce decree automatically severs an ex-spouse’s beneficiary interest in an insurance policy. We hold that it does not.

Kathleen Haley and Stephen Schleis were married in 1975. During the marriage Stephen took out two insurance policies through his employer, naming Kathleen as beneficiary. On November 6, 1979, Stephen and Kathleen were divorced. The policies involved were term insurance and the period of coverage purchased with premium payments from the community funds had ended shortly after the divorce. Kathleen therefore…