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Property Keyed to Chase
In re Knickerbocker
Citation:
912 P.2d 969 (1996)Facts
Bradford and Christine Knickerbocker married in 1984. During their marriage, they purchased a life insurance policy on Christine’s life naming Bradford as primary beneficiary and Christine’s two minor children from a previous marriage as secondary beneficiaries. In July 1991, Christine filed for divorce and was granted temporary exclusive use of their jointly-owned house. The court issued an order prohibiting the parties from “selling, encumbering or mortgaging” their assets. Around this time, Christine learned she had a potentially life-threatening disease.
To protect her children, Christine established an inter vivos trust for their benefit, executed a will naming them as beneficiaries, and appointed her brother James Cannon as her attorney-in-fact. She executed a quitclaim deed conveying her joint tenancy interest in the house to herself as a tenant in common and later conveyed that interest to the trustees of her children’s trust. James Cannon, acting under the power of attorney, transferred her other assets to the trust and executed change-of-beneficiary documents for her life insurance policies. Christine died the next day.
After her death, James Cannon sent the change-of-beneficiary document to MML Bay State Life Insurance Company, removed furnishings from the house, and sold a jointly-owned Jeep to pay funeral and legal expenses. Bradford challenged these actions in court, leading to this appeal.
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