In Re Drader Estate, [1951] CTC 181

KELLY, J. [In part] :—The final question submitted was:

"‘Because the form of assignment in policy 105 820 in the Monarch Life Assurance Company provided that the moneys payable under the policy should be payable to Mary Selena Drader if the said policy should become payable before December 6, 1940, The Monarch Life Assurance Company paid on January 11, 1948, $2,731.75 to the estate of William Drader though a certified copy of the Will was filed with the Assurance Company. Is Mary Selena Drader entitled to the money paid to the estate as aforesaid ?”

Counsel for Mary Selena Drader admitted, upon argument, that his client was not entitled to payment of the proceeds of said policy by reason of the assignment or declaration in her favour therein.

The facts were that the deceased purchased the insurance in question on December 6, 1938, when he was 65 years of age. The policy was a two-year participating endowment amounting to $2,041 for which he paid a single premium of $2,000. The policy provided that, in the event of the death of the assured prior to December 6, 1940 (maturity date) the proceeds thereof should be payable to Mary Drader, but if the assured was living on that date the proceeds were payable to him. The assured was, of course, living on that date but instead of withdrawing the proceeds of the policy he left the same with the company as an investment. Upon his death, the company paid the proceeds, then $2,731.75, to the deceased’s estate.

There can be no doubt that Mary S. Drader is not entitled to the proceeds of said policy by reason of any provision contained therein. She was the beneficiary thereof only if the assured died prior to maturity, i.e., December 6, 1940. The assured having survived the maturity date, the proceeds of the policy were his and subject to his further disposition as effectually as if he had then withdrawn same and placed them in some other form of investment.

Accordingly, the answer to this question is that Mary Selena Drader is not entitled to the proceeds of the policy paid to the estate, by reason only of the assignment or declaration contained in said policy.

The parties will have their taxed costs, of and incidental to this application, out of the estate; those of the executors and of the official guardian, on a solicitor and client basis.