Listen as John V. Tucker explains what to do when you have an interpleader case.
If you have an open life insurance case and you’ve been hit with the term interpleader, you may be wondering what that even means. Interpleader refers to a type of lawsuit that life insurance companies use when there is a dispute over who receives compensation. Interpleader cases are used when someone else is trying to claim your money.
In these types of cases the insurance company is allowed to deposit the money into an interest-bearing account of the Clerk of Courts Office. This is called the Registry of the Court. This begins the lawsuit, and any parties that believe they have claim to that money become parties in the lawsuit. It allows the insurance company to avoid being sued. Instead of getting sued, the insurance company deposits the money into the court account and you will have to file a lawsuit to get your money.
The life insurance company will have an attorney as well as the other parties. If you don’t have an attorney in an interpleader case, you will most likely lose. Watch the video to learn more.
If you have questions about interpleader cases, I want you to call me at (866) 233-5044. I welcome your call.
Video TranscriptA life insurance company is threatening interpleader with your life insurance money. What in the world is interpleader? I'm John Tucker I'm an attorney that has represented individuals like you against insurance companies for over 25 years.
Interpleader is a type of lawsuit that life insurance companies use when there's a dispute about who gets the money. Let me tell you some things you need to know about interpleader. When insurance companies want to use interpleader, it's because someone else has told them that they have a right to your money.
You may think that you're the only person who's claiming the money or you may know there's other people out there that think they have an interest in it but what the insurance company is allowed to do is to take the money and deposit it into what's called the registry of the Court. That’s an interest-bearing account at the Clerk of Court's office where the money sits and a lawsuit is begun and all of the people that have a claim to that life insurance money become a party to that one lawsuit.
It lets the insurance company avoid getting sued by multiple people for not paying somebody the life insurance proceeds. Remember it's about competing claims, so somebody else thinks their claim is just as good as yours. The insurance company is in the situation where if they pay you but they don't pay the other person they're probably going to get sued by that other person and an attorney. So instead of dealing with all of that, they're going to interplead or deposit the money into the court's registry and you're going to have to be a party to a lawsuit.
What does all this mean it means a lawsuit is coming and you need to have an attorney. Why? Well, the life insurance company's going to have an attorney, it's likely that the other person who thinks they're entitled to the money is going to have an attorney and you need to have an attorney too. If you don't have an attorney in an interpleader case, it's like taking a knife to a gunfight, you don't want to be in that situation.
If you're watching this video it's probably because some life insurance companies told you they're going to interplead some money or worse you've already been sued for interpleader. If that's the case, I want you to pick up the phone and call me at the number on the bottom of your screen. I handle cases like yours all the time, I'm happy to talk to you about your case. I’m John Tucker. Thank you for watching.
