Ridgway v. Prudential Insurance Co. of America

GLASSMAN, Justice.

In this case, we are called upon to decide a very narrow but important issue: whether federal law prohibits a state court from imposing a constructive trust on the proceeds of a Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance policy in favor of a deceased serviceman’s minor children when, contrary to a property settlement agreement and an express judicial decree, the serviceman failed to name the minor children as beneficiaries of that insurance.

Richard Ridgway, a career Army sergeant, was insured under a Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance (SGLI) policy in the amount of $20,000. As of…