- 10 -
provision for his wife, Mrs. Street, and the trial and appellate
courts specifically found that the arrangement was fair to her.
The Texas courts have held, and we are satisfied, that decedent's
surviving widow, Mrs. Street, had no community or other interest
in the insurance proceeds on decedent's life, after decedent made
his change of beneficiary designation and died.
We need not linger on whether the highest court of the
relevant State (Texas here) has definitely spoken on the issue at
hand. In the State court litigation, the trial court, pursuant
to jury findings, ruled in favor of decedent's estate as sole
beneficiary of decedent's life insurance. The Texas Court of
Appeals affirmed this result, specifically pointing out that
under Texas law, decedent had the right to dispose of the
proceeds of the community property insurance on his life as long
as it was done in a manner not unfair to his wife, and that it
was so done in this case; an attempt to secure a writ of error in
this matter from the Texas Supreme Court was refused. We find no
rulings of the highest court of Texas that are adverse to the
result in Street v. Skipper, supra, and we accept this as the
correct statement of the law of Texas; Commissioner v. Estate of
Bosch, supra.
In addition, as to this issue of the proper party to receive
decedent's life insurance, it is the same issue before this Court
as it was before the Texas courts. Those courts have answered
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011