Death Benefits Were Properly Paid To Decedent’s Domestic Partner, Panel Says

(September 6, 2019, 10:04 AM EDT) -- ST. LOUIS — Beneficiary benefits under a life insurance policy and an accidental death policy were properly paid to a decedent’s domestic partner because the plan administrator’s interpretation of the term “spouse” was reasonable, the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Sept. 3 in reversing a district court’s ruling in favor of the decedent’s mother, who claimed that the benefits should have been paid to the decedent’s estate, which she did not establish until months after the benefits were paid (Sharon Engle v. Land O’Lakes Inc.,  et al., No. 18-2821, 8th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 26569)....

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