Travelers Ins. Co. v. Blanchard, 270-80

• Decision Date: 02 June 1981
• Docket Number: No. 270-80,270-80
• Citation: 139 Vt. 559,433 A.2d 296
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court
• Parties: The TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY v. Jean Carol BLANCHARD and Sheyanne Baker and Shawn Baker.

Page 296

433 A.2d 296

139 Vt. 559

The TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY v. Jean Carol BLANCHARD and Sheyanne Baker and Shawn Baker.

No. 270-80.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

June 2, 1981.

Fink & Birmingham, P. C., Ludlow, for appellant.

Eugene Rakow and Peter C. Montagne of Biederman, Rakow & Donnellan, P. C., Rutland, on the brief, for appellees.

Before BARNEY, C. J., and LARROW, BILLINGS, HILL and UNDERWOOD, JJ.

LARROW, Justice.

This is an action of interpleader under V.R.C.P. 22, brought by the Travelers Insurance Company (Travelers) to determine entitlement to a death benefit payable upon the life of one Oren E. Baker. Despite the clearly equitable nature of the relief sought, it was heard below by the presiding judge and the assistant judges of the Rutland Superior Court. Fortunately, no claim of error is predicated upon this, and their decision was a unanimous one. Pockette v. LaDuke, 139 Vt. ---, --- A.2d ---- (1981).

The defendants, Sheyanne and Shawn Baker, are minor children of the decedent. Defendant-appellant Jean C. Blanchard was the named beneficiary on the group policy in question at that the time of Baker's death. The pertinent facts were stipulated below, as was the payment into court of the $8,000 policy proceeds, less costs and attorney fees, and the release of Travelers. The trial court found the minor children entitled to the net proceeds, and defendant Blanchard has appealed. A certified question, also agreed to, raises the issue of entitlement under the facts hereinafter summarized.

A temporary order was entered in a divorce action brought by his then wife against Baker, pursuant to stipulation, on July 14, 1977. Among other matters (i. e., custody, visitation, possession of property and support) Baker was ordered to maintain existing health, life and dental insurance for the minor children. By final judgment dated May 16, 1979, and again pursuant to stipulation, it was ordered:

5. Plaintiff and Defendant shall each maintain their present life insurance policies and name their present minor children as beneficiaries thereof during their minority.

Sheyanne and Shawn Baker are such minor children. The policy in issue here is one of two such policies, a group insurance policy with Baker's employer. The order contained a property division, gave child custody to the mother, and "in consideration of the foregoing" relieved Baker of further child support. Jean C. Blanchard was a "close friend" of Baker; they had formulated plans to marry. On October 4, 1977, after the temporary stipulation and order, but before the final stipulation and order, Baker executed a form changing the beneficiary on the policy in question to Blanchard, and designating her as "friend." He died August 16, 1979. She claims the proceeds on the basis of this change of beneficiary, and asserts equitable interests in such proceeds. The children claim by virtue of the divorce orders and their equitable interests.

It is apparent at the outset that Blanchard's claim must rest upon the change of beneficiary alone. She asserts in her brief that she and Baker had lived together some two years before his death, that she had contributed to their household expenses, and that they were to be married two days after the date on...