Baldwin City, KS asked in Collections and Probate for Texas

Q: My girlfriend's ex husband passed away in January.

How can she find out if perhaps her name is on any insurance policy or bank accounts or any policies as she did not contest her divorce or return to texas because of his physically violent behavior.He was living in Bastrop,Texas when he passed away January 2 of this year. He had no family and she left all her belongings in the home.

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1 Lawyer Answer
Terry Lynn Garrett
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Terry Lynn Garrett
Answered
  • Probate Lawyer
  • Austin, TX
  • Licensed in Texas

A: While your girlfriend can contact a life insurance company directly, the insurance company is only obliged to speak to someone who is named as the beneficiary and presents a death certificate. Similarly, she can present a death certificate to a bank and ask whether there was an account "pay on death" or "joint with right of survivorship" in her name. But there is no general registry.

It is not true that her ex-husband died without a family, even if only second or third or fourth cousins of whom she is unaware. In any event, as an ex-spouse she is not her former husband's heir.

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