Court order to force end of joint life insurance?

[Ratherhaveacupofteaandabiscuit]

Can any solicitors please advise me on the legal route to end a joint life insurance policy which my ex husband is continuing against my will?

We divorced several years ago with a clean break agreement but for various reasons this policy (which has no surrender value) was not considered.

I originally took out the policy, which pays on the first death, back when we first got married and I paid all the premiums.

The beneficiary cannot be changed and the policy cannot be cancelled without his consent which he will never give because
he knows I now have stage 4 cancer so he is wanting the inevitable payout.

The insurance company is sympathetic but says their hands are tied.

The financial ombudsman says they cannot even investigate my complaint without my ex-husband's consent because he is named on the policy.

Is there some sort of court order which could force my ex-husband to agreeing to end the policy?

I have tried just stopping the monthly direct debit but he took it over.

It feels like he is actively investing in my death and I do not want him to profit.

This is a man who took a lot of money from me during our marriage and then wanted even more in the divorce.

He had an affair with my best friend when I was first diagnosed with cancer.

I think he has taken enough from me.

gosh how awful for you. It will be down to the terms and conditions of the policy, you have, and if it was a trust, you need to speak to a solicitor.

is it worth expending your energy on

This sounds awful op
I think a solicitor definately
if you have a terminal diagnosis some companies pay out on diagnosis and if it is your policy this money would maybe come to you? But it’s worth challenging definately.

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. You have my sympathy.

I’ve name changed for this.

I too have stage 4 cancer , considered terminal

my doctor wrote me a letter confirming my life expectancy was less than 12 months. I sent this to my life insurance provider and filled in their forms. . They paid out, to me. I’m still alive. Winners all round!

it was a joint policy with my husband, I don’t think he was involved at all in the payout process. I can check if you like?

who is your policy with? Is there a payout clause for terminal illness?

The policy does not pay out on terminal diagnosis. I did ask that.
It is death only.
As for it being worth expending my energy on, yes it is. Otherwise I wouldn't be considering the possibility of legal action.

I used to work in life claims for one of the big insurers - I occasionally saw joint policies that had been assigned to one person only, usually after divorce so both lives were still covered but if the absolute owner died then it would be paid to their estate rather than the other person as they no longer owned it.

Did you use a solicitor for the divorce? That would be my first port of call. You'd need a deed of assignment transferring the ownership solely to you.

You mention there's no TI cover - that's pretty rare for term life policies these days - is it because you are in the last 12 or 18 months of the term? Or is it just not a benefit on the policy at all?

Does your ex husband have an Insurable Interest?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurable_interest

I suggest not

There doesn't need to be any insurable interest at this stage, it only needs to exist when the policy started.

I don’t find the concept of “insurable interest” very clear. Perhaps I am being thick.

If it helps clarify, my ex husband had forgotten the existence of the policy given he never paid for it or organised it and it was arranged over 20 years previously.

I had only left it running because I thought I could never get any new life insurance due to my cancer diagnosis and mistakenly assumed I would be able to just change the beneficiary later because I was the person paying for it.

To be honest I was not thinking very clearly at the time. It was all just too much trauma in one go.

My ex husband was in ignorance I was cancelling until, on advice from the insurer, I stopped the direct debit as my only way to end the policy by letting it lapse because they said it could not be cancelled without both our signatures and I was not in contact with him or on terms to be so and knew he would never have the moral compass to agree.

The insurer had told me he would not be contacted about the lack of monthly payment because I was the named postal contact but due to their error he was sent a copy of the failed direct debit letter.

He then realised he could make yet more money from me (it seems that flogging a dead horse can work sometimes) promptly set up a new direct debit from his account.

The insurance company was very apologetic, and really wanted to help me especially given I had evidence of prior financial abuse but they could do nothing.

I tried changing the direct debit back to my account and then cancelled it again but this time he knew because no monthly payment came out of his account so he changed it back to his again.

Clearly there is no point in ongoing direct debit ping pong and he is utterly determined to get this money.

We had a consent order completed as part of the divorce with a clean break agreement.

We did not do form E because I agreed to pay the fucker off which meant I had to sell my home, which had been mine long before we got married so I was also trying to manage selling that house and buying another much smaller property.

Although we did not have children I had pets who needed accommodation plus there was my disability and finding a suitable place in my area on a limited budget was very hard.

The ex had no such worries because he was already housed having moved into my best friend’s luxury property after forcing me to pay rent on an equally luxurious flat for six months as part of his settlement whilst the best friend finished off ousting her poor husband.

He exploited the fact that I was very ill at the time and just could not cope with dealing with him anymore, or with going to court, or indeed anything at all.

As we had a clean break agreement am not sure if I need something separate or does this with the consent order cover it?

If it does, how do I enforce it?

Or if not, what?

Based on now understanding that you paid all the contributions and he did not, make an urgent application to family Curt to have is name removed and a new named beneficiary.

You may stand a chance.

I recall reading an almost identical post on here a while back, I’m not sure if the advice given, I’ll see if I can find it,

ChatGPT says this - could be the way to go with it.

Following, as I was always told anyone can take out a life insurance policy on anyone.

dh’s ex had one on him while the kids were young, which I thought was very sensible. No idea if it’s still running now the kids are older.

I used to have a cheap life insurance policy, that paid on death only, a set amount, to a named beneficiary and could not be changed or amended. As long as the premiums were paid it stood.

you may need a rl solicitor to read over the t &c.

How does the policy pay out, upon producing the death certificate? How does he plan to get a copy of the death certificate?

Anyone can get a copy of a death certificate, you phone up the register office, pay your £14 and it’s posted to you.

Not true, there needs to be an insurable interest at the time the policy is taken out e.g. in your example where your partners ex would suffer financially if he were to die whilst they had minor children. It can be part of a court order when agreeing maintenance.

OP you really should get a divorce solicitor to advise on what steps you need to take to apply to have the policy assigned to you

@Lifepolicy I'm so pleased that you are still going!
Lots of us are living with terminal cancer instead of dying with it.
I met a lady recently who is still here 8 years after being told she probably had less than a year.

If I can't get this leech off the policy my only other hope is to outlive the end of the term of insurance which is March 2031.

I have jokingly told my oncologist that if I keel over please keep me on life support and don't turn off any machines until 1st April 2031 so that the bastard gets nothing.

By the way, I do accept those who are saying see a solicitor but funds are finite because
I live on a nhs pension as a retired nurse.

I asked here as I wondered what I might be able to achieve myself or with limited professional input so as to minimise costs.

Surely your divorce solicitor should have sorted this I would go back to them initially and say they obviously missed something significant and they should sort it out.

Can you get them to separate the policy due to divorce?

Sorry to hear you are in this position.

Your only option is to apply to vary the final order. You don't need a solicitor just set it out as you have here.

The policy was ommitted from the clean break in error. You paid all premiums until x date. He should have to consent to terminate the policy.

A judge isnt going to look favourably on the man trying to profit from his ex wife's untimely death (which i hope doesn't happen for as long as possible by the way).

He’s paying now since she stopped her direct debit.

Solicitor ‘s letters are not legally binding. He could just throw it away.

Well at least he's paying now id juat carry on messing around with the direct debut if I were you OP.

A completely left-field and possibly inappropriate suggestion, so I apologise in advance in case you or anyone else finds it offensive; does it pay out in the event of suicide, and would you fancy a trip to Switzerland when the time comes?

I may be about to offer some unwelcome advice so feel free to ignore me but I feel this needs saying...

Is it worth giving this anymore headspace? Apart from annoying you, it won't have any impact on you. Could you persuade yourself to let it go? Chuck it in the fuckit bucket as they say.