A bitter legal tussle between the wife of a deceased and the latter’s daughter over a living annuity policy erupted in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, with each party claiming she is the rightful beneficiary of the policy.

The deceased had over the years first nominated his wife as the beneficiary and changed this to make his daughter from another marriage the beneficiary. About three weeks before his death in July 2021, he changed this and yet again made his wife the beneficiary.

However, two days before his death, he again made his daughter the beneficiary. She produced this nomination to the insurer – Momentum Metropolitan – two days after her father’s death. But as the wife objected, the insurer was not sure what to do and said the payment would only be made once the court has paved the way forward.

The wife, meanwhile, turned to court to be declared the lawful beneficiary. This was opposed by the daughter, who was, two years prior to her father’s death, nominated by him to manage his affairs.

It had emerged that she, as his nominated agent, signed the nomination form on her father’s behalf, naming herself as her father’s beneficiary shortly before his death. The wife objected to this and said this is not legally sound.

The wife testified that her husband purchased the policy when he retired in 2012 and that she was the nominated beneficiary. The monthly income from the policy was paid into their joint account from which all their debts were paid. She explained that she paid a monthly amount into another bank account to cover their other expenses.

The wife discovered in January 2020 that the deceased, who already had health problems at that time, had changed his will and that he had bequeathed his estate to his daughter. This was after the daughter arrived at their home and “took her father out to lunch”.

It later emerged that the “lunch” was, in fact, a trip to the bank to alter his will, after he discovered that his wife was “stealing from him”. He was alerted about the fact that she paid a monthly amount of about R17 000 from the policy proceeds into another account he was unaware of and that his credit card was apparently being overdrawn.

The wife then discovered that her husband, at that stage, had nominated his daughter as the beneficiary of the policy. Following an argument between them, he yet again made the wife the beneficiary.

About three weeks later, two days before his death, he phoned his daughter and told her he was not well and that she now needed to change the beneficiary nomination back to herself. The daughter said she was hesitant to do this because she did not want him to have “trouble” at home again over this issue, but she did honour his wish.

Judge Nicolene Janse van Nieuwenhuizen concluded that this was the wish of the deceased, and she declared the daughter the beneficiary.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

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