- 1). Raise an objection if you know about a change at the time it occurs during the insured's lifetime, and make sure you document your intervention. You can do this both with the insured and with the insurance company. This may or may not be successful, but it does begin a paper trail that you can use to maintain your claim once the policy begins to pay out.
- 2). File a rival beneficiary claim with the insurance company. More often, controversial changes of beneficiary come to light only after the death of the insured, when the claim is first made. Your rival claim can occasionally be resolved by arbitration, but it will more likely end in a court case. The insurance company will not be a party to the suit. Usually when a rival claim is filed, the company will begin paying the benefits into a trust until the courts resolve the matter of who is the proper beneficiary.
- 3). Study a copy of the policy for any ambiguous language (such as "spouse," without naming the specific person). Also look for any other paperwork or correspondence that might show that the change of beneficiary was contrary to the insured person's true wishes. You're really attempting to prove that either a fraud was committed, the insured was under coercion or duress when the change was made, or that a clerical error prevented her true wishes from being recorded. Merely asserting that the insured made a mistake or forgot to make a subsequent change to the beneficiary will not be sufficient. The benefit of the doubt is always in favor of the named beneficiary in these cases.