American National Bank and Trust Company of Rockford, Illinois, as of the Estate of Bruce F. Olson, Deceased v. United States

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

This appeal presents a potentially recurrent question, though not one on which we have been able to find any reported decisions. Suppose a life insurance policy is assigned to the insured’s spouse, and later the spouse relinquishes all rights under the policy as a condition of the insured's being allowed to obtain a bigger policy, and the new policy is not assigned. Can the spouse nevertheless be deemed the owner of the new policy, in whole or part, whether as a matter of contractual interpretation or by virtue of the rules relating to constructive trusts or to resulting…