Sussman v. New York Life Ins. Co., 413.
| Decision Date | 05 February 1940 |
| Docket Number | No. 413.,413. |
| Citation | 32 F. Supp. 88 |
| Parties | SUSSMAN v. NEW YORK LIFE INS. CO. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania |
Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen, and Philip Werner Amram, all of Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff.
William Carson Bodine and J. S. Conwell, both of Philadelphia, Pa., for defendant.
The insured had created an irrevocable trust, the subject matter of which consisted of shares of stock of a corporation. At the time, he had a policy of insurance under which he had the right to change the beneficiary at any time and from time to time. Six months after the creation of the trust, he changed the beneficiary of the life insurance policy (as to a fraction of the proceeds) to the trustee, "or his successor in trust in accordance with the terms of a Deed of Trust", etc.
Later on, he attempted to cancel the policy and secure its then cash surrender value. The Insurance Company refused to accept a surrender of the policy, and this suit was instituted to recover the surrender value.
The question is: Where a life insurance policy provides that the insured may at any time and from time to time change the beneficiary, does the insured lose this right when he changes the beneficiary from his estate to the trustee under an irrevocable deed of trust?
Under the law of Pennsylvania, it seems to be settled beyond question that the beneficiary of a life insurance policy which gives the insured the right to change the beneficiary at will has nothing but a mere expectancy. Knoche v. Mutual Life Ins. Co. of New York, 317 Pa. 370, 176 A. 230; Riley v. Wirth, 313 Pa. 362, 169 A. 139. A "mere expectancy" is not property, and it must be conceded that when the insured makes a change of beneficiary he conveys no property to the new beneficiary. In the present case, the change of beneficiary added nothing to the trust property, unless, with the change, the insured somehow surrendered or divested himself of the right which the policy gave him to change the beneficiary at any time and from time to time. He did not do so by any express declaration, and, consequently, the question becomes whether or not the mere fact that the change was to a trustee, who held certain other property under an irrevocable trust, is sufficient evidence from which an intention on the part of the insured to surrender or waive the right to change the beneficiary can be found.
I think that the question is properly stated as one of fact and evidence to establish a...
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...134 (3d Cir.1975) (right to change beneficiary is personal to insured which cannot be abrogated by insurer); Sussman v. New York Life Ins. Co., 32 F.Supp. 88, 88-89 (E.D.Pa.1940) (named beneficiary has no vested interest in policy or its proceeds during insured's lifetime). It is a rule of ......
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