Saw this on TV last night. A man took out 1/2 million in 4 different life ins policies on himself & his wife plus coerced her into changing the beneficiary of another $60,000 policy that she had on herself (orig beneficiary were her parents). He had planned on faking his death in a kayaking accident. She originally was going to go along with it but chickened out. She "accidentally" falls from a cliff in Alaska while on their belated honeymoon. Very suspicious & under investigation.

Long story short - he admitted to attempted ins fraud but not to killing his wife. Jury said "not guilty" because of the lack of hard evidence to the wife killing. He did not collect on any of the insur policies. Who gets the money then? The insurance company just keeps it? I wondered if the parents would be entitled to any since there was proof he coerced her into changing the beneficiary?

He couldn't have any money in the state of Iowa because a person can not benefit from criminal acts. Her parrents, children or other next of kin would be the beneficiaries. The insurance company can not keep the money.

i believe in this case that no death benefit would be paid and the premiums would be refunded to the payor of the policy. usually there's a contestability period (maybe 2 years) where claims are contestable. if fraud is detectable and proveable, the policy automatically becomes void and the premiums are refunded to the person that paid them. that's typical, but not to say that special circumstances don't come into play in this particular case.

Since he did admit being guilty of insurance fraud, the life insurance company will only refund the premiums he paid. The death claim does not get paid out.

As for the parents, they get nothing since the husband was named the beneficiary.

So everyone loses here. Wife is dead and her family gets nothing from it. Husband's life insurance scheme failed, so he got no money, but he is a free man.

I'm not a lawyer, but those are the laws regarding life insurance. Whoever is the named beneficiary should receive the death claim. The insurance company may investigate the death and delay the payout. If there is nothing suspicious of the death, the insurance company must pay the death claim by the date set by the state.