Some of the saddest, most common life insurance and annuity suits are interpleader actions.
Those are suits filed by annuity issuers that have no idea where to send benefits or other distributions. The companies are asking the courts to take charge of deciding which parties should be paid what.
For an agent or advisor helping clients with annuities, this may be one of the worst scenarios of all.
The client bought a product that worked well enough that the contract has significant value, from a conscientious insurer that cares deeply about paying distributions to the right party, and the cash may end up flowing the wrong way.
Some of the "defendants" in interpleader actions may be too poor or unsophisticated even to hire lawyers with the right skills to represent them.
For seven legal issues that frequently come up in annuity interpleader actions, based on a review of filings for three of the actions that have been started just in the past two weeks, see the gallery accompanying this article.
Credit: Alexander Raths/Adobe Stock
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