My HUSBAND had his life insurence in his MOTHERS name. I demanded that he change it ONLY because WE ARE MARRIED for christ sake! Anyways he works for a prison and came home today telling me he changed it i said i wanted proof so he handed me a piece of paper but it said NOTHING about LIFE INSURANCE it was talking about his retirement FUNDS!!! Can someone please tell me what the hell it is supposed to look like?!?!? whats the paper look like or what would it say?!?! I am fuming right now any help would be GREATLY appriciated

Insurance companies will sent out endorsement letter to notify policy holders for any amendments made. And this letter will be sent out once the insurance companies accepted the amendment.

This letter will be an addendum to the original policy.

In your case it sounds like the current beneficiary is your mother in law and you want it to be your name. If your husband already made that amendment then the insurance company will issue a letter to state that in 2-3 weeks time addressed to your husband.

The letter will look like this

from insurance company

to your husband

re: Endorsement for Nomination of Beneficiary

YourName :
Your Share : %
Your Current Address
Your ID :


The letter should reach your husband soon

OK, there are potentially THREE parties to a life insurance policy; the policy owner, the insured life, and the beneficiary.

So you can't "have a policy" in someone else's name.

If his MOTHER is the policy owner, and HIS life is insured, SHE is the only person who can change the beneficiary on the life insurance policy. If he changes it now, it would say "beneficary changed to Jane Smith" or whatever your name is.

If YOU want a life insurance policy on him, with you as beneficiary, YOU can buy a policy and be the policy owner, HE can be the insured life, and YOU can change the beneficiary.

ONLY THE POLICY OWNER CAN CHANGE THE BENEFICIARY. And the policy owner doesn't have to be the insured life. And the policy owner can change it every single day of the year if they want to, so if it's changed today, there's no guarantee that it won't be changed to someone else tomorrow. That's the point, in the SPOUSE owning the policy - even if you get divorced, and he dies, YOU'LL still get the money.

And for the record, most states MANDATE that the spouse MUST inherit the retirement plan - you can't change it to someone besides the spouse.

Sounds like he's confused. Now most retirement plans do pass on by beneficiary. In most states in the US, the spouse is a protected beneficiary anyway which means it wouldn't matter if he changed it or not. (This actually happened to one of my clients in NC when her husband changed the bene while he was going crazy in his later years.)

Anyway here's an idea about the life insurance, instead of relying on the policy at work that either goes away when he leaves or he has to convert it at an astronomical price, buy your own private coverage which might even be less expensive anyway.

it would look like standard contract paperwork and it would list beneficiaries, in order and % of benefits- example
#1 wife 100%
#2 mom 100%
#3 john doe 50% jane doe 50%. Why not suggest that he list you first and his mother second- which is what my husband did that way in case you for example die before him and he does not change the policy it would go to her. Hope it works out okay- men can be a bit silly about these things- good luck :-)