Opinion ID: 1124423
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: William's Equitable Claim

Text: William argues that he became a vested co-owner of the policy at the time Arilla filed for divorce, by virtue of K.S.A. 23-201(b). William does not assert that the district judge interpreted the policies incorrectly. William's sole argument on appeal is that the judge erroneously determined that he had no equitable power to grant relief. William argues that the district court's ruling conflicts with the pretrial order finding that this matter was in equity. However, the pretrial order only found that William's claim sounded in equity. The question of whether William was entitled to any equitable relief was left to the district judge to determine at trial. The district judge's ruling that this matter is not a case in equity resulted from his view of the legal consequences of the facts shown at trial. William contends that the district court abused its discretion by allowing the case to proceed on an equity theory, only to decide, after all the evidence was presented, that it was not an equity case. We disagree. The manner in which the case proceeded was influenced by the facts developed at trial and the theories William pursued. William cites Rice v. Garrison, 258 Kan. 142, 898 P.2d 631 (1995), for the proposition that a court has equitable power to find that a change of life insurance beneficiary is ineffective or void. Even assuming that proposition to be true, Rice does not add any support to William's position. We decided in Rice that the facts did not merit application of equitable powers: Invalidating a deceased's designation of beneficiary on life insurance or pension benefits on equitable grounds is nothing to be undertaken lightly and would require some compelling factual situation not present herein. 258 Kan. at 154 (district court's imposition of constructive trust over life insurance proceeds and pension contributions for the benefit of the second wife, contrary to decedent's beneficiary designation in favor of first wife, was reversed). The ownership interest created under K.S.A. 23-201(b) in marital property is for a property division under K.S.A. 60-1610. As stated in Wilson, 245 Kan. at 181, if there is no divorce because of the death of a spouse, there will be no division of marital property. Absent entry of a K.S.A. 60-1607 order restraining the parties from changing beneficiaries on life insurance policies, K.S.A. 23-201(b) imposes no restrictions on either party from making such changes during the pendency of the divorce. Affirmed.