Principal Life Insurance v. Peterson

Opinion

ARDAIZ, P. J.

Probate Code section 252 provides that when the named beneficiary of a life insurance policy “feloniously and intentionally kills” the person whose life is insured, the beneficiary “is not entitled to any benefit under the . . . policy . . . , and it becomes payable as though the killer had predeceased the decedent.” (Ibid.) Appellant is the named beneficiary of a $250,000 life insurance policy insuring the life of his late wife, Laci Peterson. On November 12, 2004, a jury found appellant guilty of the first degree murder of Laci Peterson, and on March 16, 2005, the San…