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- P'ninat Mishpat
Case: The plaintiff (=pl) is listed in his deceased brother’s life insurance policy as the beneficiary and wants to receive its benefits. The defendant (=def), the deceased’s son and inheritor, argues that it is not logical that his father would purposely leave pl as the beneficiary, considering the very strained relationship that existed between the two in the final years of his life. Previously, the two were partners and had a good relationship, until mutual complaints led to the dissolution of the partnership. The policy was opened two decades previously, when defwas five-years old.
Ruling: It is not clear why the deceased wrote his brother as the beneficiary of the insurance policy even though he had a wife (it is not clear how strong that relationship was) and a son. It is possible that he did so in return for some benefit that he received from pl or for some other reason. It is hard to change, based on circumstantial evidence, that which is written explicitly in a legal document.
P'ninat Mishpat (835)
Various Rabbis
378 - Eating before Kiddush
379 - The Rightful Beneficiary of a Life Insurance Policy
380 - Faulty Chimney – part I
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There are two ways to view the benefit payments an insurance company pays. One is that upon receiving premium payments, the company obligates itself to pay according to the instructions it is left. In that case, there is, in a case like this, no room for a court to intervene in the determination of beneficiaries. It is whoever the instructions specify. A second possibility is that the money is considered the insured person’s monetary rights during his lifetime, which is to be dispersed by the insurer under certain circumstances. According to this second possibility, the deceased’s instructions are under the halachic category of "it is a mitzva to fulfill the words of the deceased," whose rules we must take a look at.
The Shulchan Aruch (Choshen Mishpat 252:2) says that it is amitzva to follow the words of the deceased even if he was healthy when he left instructions, as long as he gave it to a third person to hold for that reason. The K’tzot Hachoshen (252:3) rules that this is an obligation that the inheritors can be forced to carry out. Most poskim rule that this is the case even if the money is presently in the hands of the inheritors (see Shulchan Aruch, CM 250:23). In the case of an insurance policy, the company is the third party, and so they have the obligation to give the benefits to pl, and beit din has no reason to intervene to prevent this even according to the second approach above.
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Did Any Furniture Go to the Buyer? – part II
based on ruling 84093 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Undoing a Problematic Partnership – part III
based on ruling 84061 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Unsuccessful Transfer of Yeshiva – part V
based on appeal ruling 82138 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Rabbis in Midrash
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Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
