When was the last time you reviewed your beneficiary designations for life insurance policies and retirement accounts?
Very likely, the answer is “never.” But you should review them periodically. Various life events can signal a need to review and possibly change your designations. Consider whether any of the following events have occurred since you named your beneficiaries.
You’ve married or divorced
Some employer-sponsored retirement plans require you to name your spouse as your beneficiary unless your spouse agrees in writing to your naming another person. As a single parent, did you name your children as your beneficiaries? If you subsequently marry or remarry, your children may not receive your retirement money unless your new spouse signs a waiver after the marriage. A prenuptial agreement may not be enough.
Also keep in mind that a divorce won’t automatically remove a former spouse as your beneficiary. Following a divorce, be sure to change the beneficiaries of your insurance policies and retirement plan accounts, unless these assets are required to pass to your former spouse as part of your divorce settlement. Otherwise, the person you intend to benefit— a significant other, perhaps—will have an extremely difficult time proving your intentions.
Your beneficiary has died
If you haven’t named a contingent beneficiary, your insurance proceeds or retirement assets will be paid to your estate to be distributed to your heirs under your will. Your family won’t be able to receive the assets until your estate is probated, which could take months—or even years. Moreover, you lose the opportunity to use planning strategies that may better meet your loved ones’ needs and potentially increase the assets they eventually will receive. Be sure to designate both a new primary and contingent beneficiary if a beneficiary predeceases you.
A new child or grandchild has been added to the family
Avoid confusion and specifically designate additional children or grandchildren as your beneficiaries, especially if you want only certain of your children or grandchildren to receive your insurance proceeds or retirement assets or want to divide them in a particular way. If you want your assets shared equally among your children, for example, you might want to precede their names with a phrase such as “all children born of or adopted by the insured/participant in equal shares.” That way none of your children would be left out.
The value of your estate
has changed substantially
If the value has increased, your spouse, for example, may not need your insurance and/or retirement account assets. Your estate-planning goals may be better accomplished by designating your children as your primary beneficiaries and grandchildren as contingent beneficiaries. Conversely, if the value of your other assets has dropped significantly, you may want to make sure your spouse is your primary beneficiary.
These are only some of the factors to consider. Your professional financial planner can review your beneficiary designations with you in light of your family situation and assist you in making any beneficiary changes that are needed.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Prosecutor: Wife poisoned Marine, spent life insurance on breast implants
A prosecutor told jurors Thursday that 33-year-old Cynthia Sommer was the only person greedy enough to murder her husband for his military benefits and close enough to poison him to death with arsenic.
"Arsenic is, in many ways, the perfect poison," Deputy District Attorney Laura Gunn said during opening statements in Sommer's first-degree murder trial. "It is colorless, odorless, tasteless. It's lethal in very small doses ... it is accessible to the general public: You can get it."
Within one month of the death of U.S. Marine Sgt. Todd Sommer, defendant Cynthia Sommer - a mother of four who earned minimum wage at a Subway sandwich shop - received $250,000 in life insurance.
Prosecutors claim she killed her husband and wasted no time spending the money on shopping sprees, wild parties, and breast implants.
Investigators admit, however, that they have no evidence linking Sommer to the poisoning.
"There is not one document. Not one piece of physical evidence to connect Cindy to arsenic, or even an attempt to get arsenic. Nothing," defense attorney Robert Udell said during his opening statement.
Udell said Sommer was deeply in love with her 23-year-old husband - whose first name is tattooed on her right shoulder - and promised to show jurors the love letters the couple had written each other.
"Cindy was happy as a lark. She was living the life she's always wanted to live," Udell said. "The evidence will show that her dream in life, her goal in life, was to be the wife of a Marine."
Cynthia Arlene Sommer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and the special circumstance of murder by poison and murder for financial gain.
She was extradited in March to California from her home in West Palm Beach , Fla., and is being held in prison without bond. If convicted, she faces life in prison without parole.
Defense attorney Udell called Todd Sommer a "knight in shining armor," who married the defendant in July 1999 after a six-month courtship.
"She could not have asked for a more perfect man: A military man. God-fearing ... he was the man of her dreams," Udell said.
Todd Sommer collapsed at the couple's home at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego on Feb. 18, 2002.
The family had just returned from a trip to Knott's Berry Farm with their infant son, and Sommer's three children from a previous marriage.
In a frantic 911 call played for jurors Thursday, Sommer was heard attempting CPR on her husband while begging for emergency services to hurry.
"She's trying to resuscitate him. She calls 911 so they can come and save the love of her life," Udell told jurors. "She says, 'Todd, don't do this to me. What am I going to do without you?' She's watching her knight in shining armor die in front of her."
Prosecutor Gunn painted a different picture of the death scene, based on what paramedics found when they arrived.
"He didn't breathe, he didn't speak, he never had a pulse the entire time. All they saw was Todd Sommer - this young, healthy Marine &- collapsed in his bedroom on the floor. His lips were blue, he was not breathing ... he had urinated on himself. That's what they saw when they arrived," Gunn said.
Sommer told investigators that her husband had become "violently ill" 10 days before his death, with severe nausea, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea. She said he sought medical treatment at the base clinic on Feb. 10 and 12 after eating bad egg rolls at a roadside gas station. Medical records confirmed her statements.
An autopsy revealed nothing, and his death was noted as probable heart failure. As part of military policy, tissue samples were collected and frozen for later testing. His body was cremated.
But in May 2003, more than a y ear after Sommer's death, heavy-metal tests revealed arsenic levels in his liver that were more than 1,000 times the acceptable level, as well as elevated arsenic levels in his kidneys and other tissues.
Todd Sommer's cause of death was changed to "acute arsenic poisoning" and the manner of death to "homicide."
When Naval Criminal Investigative Services dug into the couple's background, it discovered that the family had been in dire financial straits.
"They found that Cynthia Sommer liked to go shopping a lot," Gunn told jurors.
The prosecutor said the couple had student loans in default, had borrowed money from their parents, and that in just two years of marriage, they had used up Todd Sommer's entire trust fund account.
"They had drained the entire fund to a balance of zero," Gunn said. "The balance of zero happened ... eight days before Todd Sommer got sick."
On Feb. 8 - 10 days before her husband's death - Cynthia Sommer visited a plastic surgeon in La Jolla and had a "before" photo taken in preparation for breast augmentation, Gunn said. She was quoted $5,400 for the surgery.
While Sommer may have hoped for bigger breasts, Gunn said, she had only $280 in the bank at the time.
The day after her husband's death, Sommer received a "death gratuity payment" of $6,000, according to Gunn.
A month later, she received $250,000 from her husband's life insurance policy.
On April 18, Sommer had breast-implant surgery. Prosecution witnesses are expected to testify that she also frequented dating Web sites and became romantically involved with another Marine in April.
Defense attorney Udell said his client had no financial motive to kill the man who was "the love of her life," and that she and her children were able to live rent-free in military housing, and receive free medical care and discounted food as long as her husband was alive.
"If the motive for killing Todd was money," Udell said, "this cost her significantly."
Testimony r esumes Monday. The trial is being streamed live on Court TV Extra.
More trial and crime news from Court TV
"Arsenic is, in many ways, the perfect poison," Deputy District Attorney Laura Gunn said during opening statements in Sommer's first-degree murder trial. "It is colorless, odorless, tasteless. It's lethal in very small doses ... it is accessible to the general public: You can get it."
Within one month of the death of U.S. Marine Sgt. Todd Sommer, defendant Cynthia Sommer - a mother of four who earned minimum wage at a Subway sandwich shop - received $250,000 in life insurance.
Prosecutors claim she killed her husband and wasted no time spending the money on shopping sprees, wild parties, and breast implants.
Investigators admit, however, that they have no evidence linking Sommer to the poisoning.
"There is not one document. Not one piece of physical evidence to connect Cindy to arsenic, or even an attempt to get arsenic. Nothing," defense attorney Robert Udell said during his opening statement.
Udell said Sommer was deeply in love with her 23-year-old husband - whose first name is tattooed on her right shoulder - and promised to show jurors the love letters the couple had written each other.
"Cindy was happy as a lark. She was living the life she's always wanted to live," Udell said. "The evidence will show that her dream in life, her goal in life, was to be the wife of a Marine."
Cynthia Arlene Sommer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and the special circumstance of murder by poison and murder for financial gain.
She was extradited in March to California from her home in West Palm Beach , Fla., and is being held in prison without bond. If convicted, she faces life in prison without parole.
Defense attorney Udell called Todd Sommer a "knight in shining armor," who married the defendant in July 1999 after a six-month courtship.
"She could not have asked for a more perfect man: A military man. God-fearing ... he was the man of her dreams," Udell said.
Todd Sommer collapsed at the couple's home at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego on Feb. 18, 2002.
The family had just returned from a trip to Knott's Berry Farm with their infant son, and Sommer's three children from a previous marriage.
In a frantic 911 call played for jurors Thursday, Sommer was heard attempting CPR on her husband while begging for emergency services to hurry.
"She's trying to resuscitate him. She calls 911 so they can come and save the love of her life," Udell told jurors. "She says, 'Todd, don't do this to me. What am I going to do without you?' She's watching her knight in shining armor die in front of her."
Prosecutor Gunn painted a different picture of the death scene, based on what paramedics found when they arrived.
"He didn't breathe, he didn't speak, he never had a pulse the entire time. All they saw was Todd Sommer - this young, healthy Marine &- collapsed in his bedroom on the floor. His lips were blue, he was not breathing ... he had urinated on himself. That's what they saw when they arrived," Gunn said.
Sommer told investigators that her husband had become "violently ill" 10 days before his death, with severe nausea, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea. She said he sought medical treatment at the base clinic on Feb. 10 and 12 after eating bad egg rolls at a roadside gas station. Medical records confirmed her statements.
An autopsy revealed nothing, and his death was noted as probable heart failure. As part of military policy, tissue samples were collected and frozen for later testing. His body was cremated.
But in May 2003, more than a y ear after Sommer's death, heavy-metal tests revealed arsenic levels in his liver that were more than 1,000 times the acceptable level, as well as elevated arsenic levels in his kidneys and other tissues.
Todd Sommer's cause of death was changed to "acute arsenic poisoning" and the manner of death to "homicide."
When Naval Criminal Investigative Services dug into the couple's background, it discovered that the family had been in dire financial straits.
"They found that Cynthia Sommer liked to go shopping a lot," Gunn told jurors.
The prosecutor said the couple had student loans in default, had borrowed money from their parents, and that in just two years of marriage, they had used up Todd Sommer's entire trust fund account.
"They had drained the entire fund to a balance of zero," Gunn said. "The balance of zero happened ... eight days before Todd Sommer got sick."
On Feb. 8 - 10 days before her husband's death - Cynthia Sommer visited a plastic surgeon in La Jolla and had a "before" photo taken in preparation for breast augmentation, Gunn said. She was quoted $5,400 for the surgery.
While Sommer may have hoped for bigger breasts, Gunn said, she had only $280 in the bank at the time.
The day after her husband's death, Sommer received a "death gratuity payment" of $6,000, according to Gunn.
A month later, she received $250,000 from her husband's life insurance policy.
On April 18, Sommer had breast-implant surgery. Prosecution witnesses are expected to testify that she also frequented dating Web sites and became romantically involved with another Marine in April.
Defense attorney Udell said his client had no financial motive to kill the man who was "the love of her life," and that she and her children were able to live rent-free in military housing, and receive free medical care and discounted food as long as her husband was alive.
"If the motive for killing Todd was money," Udell said, "this cost her significantly."
Testimony r esumes Monday. The trial is being streamed live on Court TV Extra.
More trial and crime news from Court TV
LIFE INSURANCE: Qualified experts define the options
The New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants offers an overview of the most common types of life insurance:
Term insurance. Term life insurance policies offer death benefits only. Term insurance is simple to understand and it allows you to purchase the most coverage for the least amount of money.
Whole life insurance. Rather than insuring you for just a part or a "term" of your life, a whole life policy is designed to cover you for your entire life. Whole life policies cost more than term policies because, in addition to providing a death benefit, a whole life policy builds up what is referred to as "cash value."
Universal life insurance. Flexibility is the key selling point of universal life insurance. With this type of whole life insurance, you can increase or decrease the death benefit as your insurance needs change.
Variable life insurance. Variable life insurance differs from whole life insurance in that it allows you to invest the cash value of the policy in stocks, bonds or money market funds within the insurance company's portfolios.
Term insurance. Term life insurance policies offer death benefits only. Term insurance is simple to understand and it allows you to purchase the most coverage for the least amount of money.
Whole life insurance. Rather than insuring you for just a part or a "term" of your life, a whole life policy is designed to cover you for your entire life. Whole life policies cost more than term policies because, in addition to providing a death benefit, a whole life policy builds up what is referred to as "cash value."
Universal life insurance. Flexibility is the key selling point of universal life insurance. With this type of whole life insurance, you can increase or decrease the death benefit as your insurance needs change.
Variable life insurance. Variable life insurance differs from whole life insurance in that it allows you to invest the cash value of the policy in stocks, bonds or money market funds within the insurance company's portfolios.
A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of CIGNA Life Insurance New Zealand Limited
A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of A- (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) of "a-" for CIGNA Life Insurance New Zealand Limited (CIGNA Life) (New Zealand). The outlook on both ratings remains stable.
The ratings reflect the company's favorable level of risk-adjusted capitalization, continued improvement in operation profitability and conservative investment mix. The ratings also acknowledge the prominent market position within its core business lines.
CIGNA Life's risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio, is strong and showing a positive trend. The company's aggregate capital and surplus levels have increased consistently in the past years, due mainly to its high retention of operating earnings. Its five-year average growth rate of capitalization stands at 10.6%.
CIGNA Life experienced a strong growth in net earnings to NZD 11.5 million (approximately USD 7.8 million) in 2005 from NZD 5.3 million (approximately USD 3.8 million) in 2004. The company has a highly liquid investment portfolio, generating a net yield of 8.8%. As of year-end 2005, cash and fixed interest securities represented approximately 95% of invested assets. This prudent investment strategy has partly sheltered the company's operating earnings from potential volatility.
The primary offsetting rating factor is the company's concentration of business in credit life insurance. Given the company's niche target market, A.M. Best believes the sustainability of CIGNA Life's business growth could be adversely affected by a downturn in the New Zealand credit market.
For Best's Ratings, an overview of the rating process and rating methodologies, please visit www.ambest.com/ratings.
A.M. Best Co., established in 1899, is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit A.M. Best's Web site at www.ambest.com.
The ratings reflect the company's favorable level of risk-adjusted capitalization, continued improvement in operation profitability and conservative investment mix. The ratings also acknowledge the prominent market position within its core business lines.
CIGNA Life's risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio, is strong and showing a positive trend. The company's aggregate capital and surplus levels have increased consistently in the past years, due mainly to its high retention of operating earnings. Its five-year average growth rate of capitalization stands at 10.6%.
CIGNA Life experienced a strong growth in net earnings to NZD 11.5 million (approximately USD 7.8 million) in 2005 from NZD 5.3 million (approximately USD 3.8 million) in 2004. The company has a highly liquid investment portfolio, generating a net yield of 8.8%. As of year-end 2005, cash and fixed interest securities represented approximately 95% of invested assets. This prudent investment strategy has partly sheltered the company's operating earnings from potential volatility.
The primary offsetting rating factor is the company's concentration of business in credit life insurance. Given the company's niche target market, A.M. Best believes the sustainability of CIGNA Life's business growth could be adversely affected by a downturn in the New Zealand credit market.
For Best's Ratings, an overview of the rating process and rating methodologies, please visit www.ambest.com/ratings.
A.M. Best Co., established in 1899, is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit A.M. Best's Web site at www.ambest.com.
ACE Acquires Altas Cumbres Life Insurance Company
The ACE Group of Companies announced today that it has acquired Altas Cumbres Life Insurance Company, formerly a wholly owned Peruvian subsidiary of Grupo Altas Cumbres of Chile.
Altas Cumbres is one of Peru's fastest-growing life insurance companies, with more than 700,000 customers, specializing in accident, group and credit life insurance. Distribution channels for its products include captive agencies, brokers and bancassurance through the more than 100 branches of Banco del Trabajo, which is one of Peru's largest banks and is owned by Grupo Altas Cumbres.
Altas Cumbres is one of Peru's fastest-growing life insurance companies, with more than 700,000 customers, specializing in accident, group and credit life insurance. Distribution channels for its products include captive agencies, brokers and bancassurance through the more than 100 branches of Banco del Trabajo, which is one of Peru's largest banks and is owned by Grupo Altas Cumbres.
"With the acquisition of Altas Cumbres Life, ACE is able to participate in the vibrant and growing Peruvian insurance market," said Ed Clancy, President and Chief Operating Officer, ACE Overseas General, and President of International Accident & Health. "As we expand our business opportunities in Peru, we are able to partner with one of the strongest banking franchises in the country. We also look forward to expanding the Altas Cumbres product line to include a broad array of life, accident and health insurance, as well as introducing additional distribution channels."
The ACE Group of Companies is a global leader in insurance and reinsurance serving a diverse group of clients. Headed by ACE Limited (NYSE: ACE - News), a component of the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, the ACE Group conducts its business on a worldwide basis with operating subsidiaries in more than 50 countries. Additional information can be found at www.acelimited.com.
Oxford Life Insurance Company Achieves IMSA Qualification, Guidepost of Excellence for Consumers
Oxford Life Insurance Company, Phoenix, AZ, has renewed its qualification in the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA), the premier standards-setting organization for the life insurance marketplace.
"Oxford Life is proud of its IMSA qualification," said company President & CEO Mark Haydukovich. "Our IMSA qualification is a tangible demonstration of our commitment to treating our clients with honesty and integrity."
IMSA President & CEO Brian Atchinson congratulated Oxford Life for successfully completing the rigorous, independent review of their marketing, sales and compliance practices to qualify for renewed IMSA membership.
"IMSA qualification shows that a company maintains policies and procedures to help ensure high standards of ethical business practices and fair and honest service to customers," Atchinson said. "We commend Oxford Life for their dedication to IMSA's high standards."
IMSA is the premier standards-setting organization for the life insurance, annuities and long-term care insurance marketplace for individually sold products. Qualified companies commit to maintaining high ethical standards and to being fair, honest, and open in the way they advertise, sell and service their products. The IMSA seal is a guidepost of excellence and integrity for consumers. For more information, visit www.IMSAethics.org.Oxford Life Insurance Company Achieves IMSA Qualification, Guidepost of Excellence for Consumers
"Oxford Life is proud of its IMSA qualification," said company President & CEO Mark Haydukovich. "Our IMSA qualification is a tangible demonstration of our commitment to treating our clients with honesty and integrity."
IMSA President & CEO Brian Atchinson congratulated Oxford Life for successfully completing the rigorous, independent review of their marketing, sales and compliance practices to qualify for renewed IMSA membership.
"IMSA qualification shows that a company maintains policies and procedures to help ensure high standards of ethical business practices and fair and honest service to customers," Atchinson said. "We commend Oxford Life for their dedication to IMSA's high standards."
IMSA is the premier standards-setting organization for the life insurance, annuities and long-term care insurance marketplace for individually sold products. Qualified companies commit to maintaining high ethical standards and to being fair, honest, and open in the way they advertise, sell and service their products. The IMSA seal is a guidepost of excellence and integrity for consumers. For more information, visit www.IMSAethics.org.Oxford Life Insurance Company Achieves IMSA Qualification, Guidepost of Excellence for Consumers
Prosecutor: Widow In Poisoning Trial Talked Of Life
Cynthia Sommer, 33, told an emergency worker that she had kidded with her husband about his $250,000 military life insurance policy but added that she "never thought (she) would actually see it," Deputy District Attorney Laura Gunn told a jury in opening statements.
According to Gunn, Sommer stayed out late with friends, paid $5,400 to have her breasts enlarged and quickly found a new boyfriend after her husband, Todd Sommer, 23, collapsed and died at their home in February 2002.
His death was initially ruled a heart attack. Tests of his liver later found levels of arsenic 1,020 times above normal.
Cynthia Sommer has pleaded not guilty to charges that she murdered her husband for financial gain. She was extradited last March to California from her current home in West Palm Beach, Fla., and faces life in prison if she is convicted.
Her defense attorney, Robert Udell, said her seemingly carefree behavior was consistent with a woman who had lost an ideal partner.
"The crash, the fall, is exactly consistent with someone who lost the love of their life," Udell said.
In his opening statements in Superior Court, Udell said love letters between the couple showed that Cynthia believed Todd was her "knight in shining armor" when she met him after her first marriage failed, leaving her with three small children he seemed glad to care for as his own.
The pair married in 1999 and had another child.
"This was a godsend -- he was the man of her dreams," Udell said.
Gunn said the Sommers were financially strapped and living well beyond their means at the time of Todd Sommer's death. She said Sommers started making plans for her breast enhancement before her husband's death.
"The medical record shows she did the paperwork, had a before picture and was quoted a price of $5,400," Gunn said. "Her bank balance that day -- $280."
Witnesses called by the prosecution in hearings last summer described Cynthia Sommer as a spendthrift who drained her husband's small trust fund and had to ask his parents for financial help buying a new car.
Gunn said that Sommers' behavior right after her husband died was not that of a grieving widow. When a Navy official spoke with her right after the death, "He said her first question: 'Am I going to have to give back his bonus?'" Gunn said.
According to Gunn, Sommer stayed out late with friends, paid $5,400 to have her breasts enlarged and quickly found a new boyfriend after her husband, Todd Sommer, 23, collapsed and died at their home in February 2002.
His death was initially ruled a heart attack. Tests of his liver later found levels of arsenic 1,020 times above normal.
Cynthia Sommer has pleaded not guilty to charges that she murdered her husband for financial gain. She was extradited last March to California from her current home in West Palm Beach, Fla., and faces life in prison if she is convicted.
Her defense attorney, Robert Udell, said her seemingly carefree behavior was consistent with a woman who had lost an ideal partner.
"The crash, the fall, is exactly consistent with someone who lost the love of their life," Udell said.
In his opening statements in Superior Court, Udell said love letters between the couple showed that Cynthia believed Todd was her "knight in shining armor" when she met him after her first marriage failed, leaving her with three small children he seemed glad to care for as his own.
The pair married in 1999 and had another child.
"This was a godsend -- he was the man of her dreams," Udell said.
Gunn said the Sommers were financially strapped and living well beyond their means at the time of Todd Sommer's death. She said Sommers started making plans for her breast enhancement before her husband's death.
"The medical record shows she did the paperwork, had a before picture and was quoted a price of $5,400," Gunn said. "Her bank balance that day -- $280."
Witnesses called by the prosecution in hearings last summer described Cynthia Sommer as a spendthrift who drained her husband's small trust fund and had to ask his parents for financial help buying a new car.
Gunn said that Sommers' behavior right after her husband died was not that of a grieving widow. When a Navy official spoke with her right after the death, "He said her first question: 'Am I going to have to give back his bonus?'" Gunn said.
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