The Law Office of Mark S. Humphreys, P.C. is pleased to announce a settlement in a life insurance dispute between Mark’s client and the wife of a lady who killed her husband, claiming the killing was self-defense.
Mark’s client was the daughter of the deceased husband and the secondary beneficiary under the life insurance policy.
The primary beneficiary was the wife.
The wife reported that there was on-going domestic violence that was being committed by her deceased husband. The daughter says this simply is not true.
The wife shot the husband six times with a pistol in the couple’s bedroom. She waited at least 30 minutes before calling the police.
The police arrested the wife charging her with murder.
The wife was later released from jail and the charges were dismissed.
The insurance company clearly owed money due to the death of the insured.
The insurance company interpleaded the life insurance proceeds into the Court Registry and washed their hands of the matter leaving it for the wife and the daughter to contest who was entitled to the money.
Mark immediately made claims for the life insurance proceeds for the benefit of his client under the Texas Slayer Statute.
The Texas Slayer Statute states that a person who is a principal in intentionally causing the death of insured, forfeits their right to life insurance proceeds. An exception to this rule would be a claim of self-defense.
The wife hired an attorney and Mark noticed the wife for her deposition.
Upon the advice of her attorney the wife chose not to participate in a deposition and gave up her claims to the life insurance proceeds. The only logical reason for this is that a deposition under oath could result in the wife saying something that might lead to herself being re-arrested and charged with the death of her husband and she decided it was not worth the risk.
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