Opinion ID: 1724862
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Language of the beneficiary designation.

Text: Administrator Marcene Lynch argues when Lynch completed the designation form by writing the word wife in that portion which stated, Said nominated beneficiary has an insurable interest in my life by reason of being my wife  he made a conditional designation and if, upon the member's death, the condition is not met, the nomination must stand annulled, void, and for naught. In short, she asserts the beneficiary must have the same insurable interest in the member's life when the benefits are paid that she had when designated. We cannot read this requirement into the statute, nor do we find any support for this rationale in the law of insurance. Ordinarily the word wife or husband following a beneficiary's name is held to be merely a description of the person, not a limitation on the named individual's right to the proceeds. White v. Brotherhood of American Yeomen, supra, 124 Iowa at 294, 99 N.W. at 1072; Gerhard v. Travelers Insurance Company, 107 N.J.Super. 414, 425, 258 A.2d 724, 730 (1969); Simmons v. Simmons, supra, 272 S.W.2d at 915; Stokes v. McDowell, 70 Wash.2d 694, 697, 424 P.2d 910, 912 (1967); Appleman, supra, § 802, pp. 238-240; Annot., 175 A.L.R. 1220, 1226. All of the words on the designation form were printed with the exception of those blanks in which Lynch wrote in the beneficiary's name and the word wife. We cannot distinguish this situation from that in which decedent might have simply designated Pauline V. Lynch, wife. In the latter case, Iowa precedent indicates use of the word wife is only descriptive and not exclusive. White v. Brotherhood of American Yeomen, supra.