Unpublished Disposition, 859 F.2d 154 (9th Cir. 1987)
Annotate this CaseThe PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee,v.Virginia F. COOPER, Defendant,andPatricia L. Cooper, individually and as PersonalRepresentative of the Estate of Melvin J. Cooper,deceased, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 87-4286.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Argued and Submitted Sept. 14, 1988.Decided Sept. 19, 1988.
Before EUGENE A. WRIGHT, WALLACE and HUG, Circuit Judges.
MEMORANDUM*
Patricia Cooper appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of Virginia Cooper awarding Virginia the proceeds of a life insurance policy insuring the life of M.J. Cooper, now deceased. We review the judgment independently. Darring v. Kincheloe, 783 F.2d 874, 876 (9th Cir. 1986).
A divorce decree does not automatically divest a former spouse of beneficiary status in a life insurance policy. Beneficial Life Ins. Co. v. Stoddard, 95 Idaho 628, 629, 516 P.2d 187 (1973). Here, the divorce decree did not specifically award the policy to M.J.; it merely provided him with the "cash value."
Even assuming M.J. had the power to change a beneficiary to the policy, we hold, for the reasons stated by Judge Ryan in his opinion dated August 18, 1987, that M.J. did not effectively do so under the law of Idaho.
Virginia's request for attorney's fees is denied.
AFFIRMED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
