Insurer has no Obligation to Investigate Change of Beneficiary

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It has often been said that where there is a will there are relatives & their lawyers. The same type of dispute arises when the beneficiary and owner of a life insurance policy changes shortly before the death of the life insured. In Emery v. Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Company, A20A2082, Court of Appeals of Georgia (January 22, 2021) Georgia was faced with a claim by a previous beneficiary to funds paid to a new beneficiary claiming her signature on the change request was forged.

ZALMA OPINION

Emery has no one to blame but herself. If her signature was forged she should have responded to GTL when the forms were submitted rather than waiting a year after the death and payment to the wife. Laches, not mentioned, controls here because Emery waited to long to assert her rights and the insurer, GTL, did everything that it needed to do: it paid the beneficiary listed in its policy only to be faced with a late filed claim requiring it to defend a bad faith lawsuit and an appeal.