Cengage Advantage Books: Law for Business 19th Edition by John Ashcroft,Katherine Ashcroft,Martha Patterson

Exercise 16

When Helga and Gene Hohertz divorced, the decree required Gene to pay alimony until he or Helga died and to name Helga as beneficiary of $100,000 of life insurance to secure his alimony obligation. Gene was also ordered to pay Helga $100 a month for every month the required insurance was not in effect. Gene remarried and sometime later changed the beneficiaries of his $200,000 life insurance policy to provide $100,000 to Helga and the remainder to his new wife, Vetta. Years later Gene was diagnosed with lung cancer and changed the beneficiary on his life insurance completely to Vetta. He paid an additional $100 in alimony to Helga and died within the month. When he died he had paid Helga $100,075 in alimony and was current in his payments. Helga asked the court to declare she was entitled to $100,000 of the insurance proceeds. Was she? [Hohertz v. Estate of Hohertz, 802 N.W.2d 141 (Neb. Ct. App.)]