We're finishing up our story of the man who, after a contentious divorce, removed his wife's name from all of his retirement plans, brokerage accounts, insurance policies -- everything he could think of. He named the estate as beneficiary. Then he remarried. And then he died. None of this happened in Florida, but it is a true story.

His widow discovered that an IRA her husband had set up named the ex-wife as beneficiary. Somehow, the husband or the bank that held the IRA had missed this one. The widow obtained a court order to have the IRA transferred to the estate, arguing that it was plainly not her husband's intent to leave a single penny to the ex. The bank fought the order. The widow filed a FINRA arbitration claim.

The IRA holder claimed that the court order hadn't covered the IRA, because the account had a named beneficiary and was not a part of the estate.

The widow lost the arbitration. Among the reasons was that the court order listed specific accounts, none of which was the IRA. Not included in the order, so no violation of the order.

The widow raised another argument, the "Know Your Customer" argument. The company, she said, had failed to consult with her husband on a regular basis, breaching its duty to him.

The arbitration panel didn't buy it. They found the company's agent more persuasive when he said he seldom heard from the deceased unless he was making his annual contribution to the account.

So the ex-wife kept the IRA.

And there's no need to tell anyone what the lesson is here.

Source: Insurance News Net, "The Lawyer, the Stockbroker, the Ex-Wife, and the Widow," Aug. 02, 2011