Back in October, my FIL passed away. (He was 91... lived a very long and active life up until the end.) We are all in the process of going through the different parts of his trust still. Everything has been filed properly at this point. Finances are in the process of being distributed, as they come in.
Anyway, he had a small insurance policy (about $1200) ...... the insurance company was given instructions to divide it equally between the 4 siblings.
The insurance company goofed up, and divided it equally between 3 of the siblings.... left one out.
We got the check some time ago, but didn't get it deposited quickly.
The one sibling that was left out contacted the insurance company, telling them of the error.
First the Insurance company asked everyone to mail the checks back, so they could re-issue them properly.
We never got around to mailing the check back. (We are just now getting ready to deposit the check.)
The most recent letter asked us to send them the difference (about $95) back to the company... as far as I know, they did issue a proper check to the sibling that was left out.
Does anyone know if we are legally responsible to send them back that $95, or do they just have to eat the loss?
We had offered the sibling to split our check right at the beginning, but he said he would contact the insurance company... his point was that the insurance company messed up, so they needed to take care of the situation.....we were in no way trying to keep one sibling out of any of the money. (Odd thing is.... the sibling left out was the one that sent the insurance company the death certificate and instructions on how to disburse the insurance policy.)
We didn't cash the check immediately because we knew there had been an error, and waited to see what needed to be done.....
With the holidays and such, we just haven't gotten around to cashing that check and sending a check to the insurance company... we had a lot of company over the holidays and 8 trips to the airport in 3 weeks.... very hectic month!
We will be sending a check today..... it had just slipped our minds until hubby found the letter from the insurance company....
I hate that they messed up. It would have just been settled.
So much easier.
But they made a mistake. You've made mistakes, right?
You are legally and morally responsible to send them $95.
You owe them that money and legally they can demand it and if you don't pay they can put the collection on your credit report.
I don't find this question interesting, I find it stupid and greedy. Isn't your integrity worth more than 95 bucks?
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After reading your what happened I can't help but wonder what your what happened would have looked like if we had all said, yeah, screw the insurance company. Sorry but I don't buy you were going to send the money regardless of our answers because no where in your OP did you say we are going to send it because it is the right thing to do. Nope you listed the insurance companies errors and just asked can they get you if you don't send the money.
Most folks if they were going to have the insurance company correct the error would have sent the three checks back immediately. Your family didn't, some cashed it. Kind of makes me wonder if your sibs that cashed it aren't planning on returning the 95 and you wanted the extra too.
What a terrible thing to NOT do the right thing. This is one of the saddest posts I've read in a long time.
ETA: This post annoyed me so much, I looked at your previous posts to see if this is *normal* for you. I see that you were in a minor fender bender & the other person was in your words "NOT DOING THE RIGHT THING", by calling in the accident to their insurance company. Perhaps you should also go back and look at your posts so you can see what it felt like when another person wasn't doing "the right thing".
Did you really need to ask this question? Don't you have a still, small voice telling you that it is not right to keep the $95?
Really? I don't find this question interesting at all. The insurance company asked you to mail the check back, and instead of doing that, you are now saying "We are just now getting ready to deposit the check."
First, the probably cancelled the check, so you go right ahead and try to cash it if you wish. But WHAT A SHAME that you even needed to ask this question. I'm sure your father-in-law loves how you are treating his modest legacy.
So deposit the check and cut the insurance company a check for $95. They are trying to right the wrong. You are trying to take extra money that doesn't belong to you. That's called stealing. Wouldn't your FIL want you to do the right thing with his money?
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Per your SWH - cool! Yeah, life gets in the way sometimes, especially around the holidays. By cashing the check and getting the $ back to the company, it puts the books right all around. :)
ORIGINAL: Consider this - if 10 people, just 10, in every state in the US did this - that's 500 people x 95 - that's $47,500 dollars - just because it was "only" $95. So a "little" cheat doesn't stay little for long.
Legally? Probably. MORALLY? Definitely. It's called doing the right thing.
Why do we get mad when we get cheated, but wonder if it's ok to cheat?
Cash the check and send them the $95 FROM that money.
All this over $95? Wow...just wow....
You have to ask? Geez. I'm sorry, but I find it disappointing that NOT sending the check entered your mind.
What if we had said, "No way. let them eat the $95?" What would you have done?
I'm actually surprised it came to that.... I would have thought the right thing to do when they found out one sibling was left out..... would be that you all would have cut that sibling a check directly to split the inheritance.... and left the insurance company out of it.
But I don't know the family dynamic. Still, unless there was "good", justifiable reason.... if I was the 4th sibling I think my relationship with most of you would be over. killer / child molester / abusive to the dad and so the siblings might then
Having said that..... mistakes DO happen. How quickly did you get notification of the error? I definitely would either send the check back or send a check for $95 and I agree it sounds greedy to indicate that a sibling WOULDN'T have already done that.
But again.... I don't know the dynamic.
I would doubt that they paid the left out person without first getting the checks back. I suggest you need to call the insurance company to verify what has happened and what you need to do.
Of course you're obligated to pay the insurance company if they've already issued a correct check to the person left out. I'm surprised you ask. If you don't pay them the $95 that you owe then it's theft. It's not likely the insurance company could do anything about it if you didn't pay. That is why I doubt that they've paid the fourth person.
If the insurance company hasn't issued a new check, I suggest that you could each give the fourth person the correct amount. $95?
Since you haven't cashed the original check I would call the insurance company and tell them you still have it. Tell them you'll void it and send it back. Then they'll reissue you a new check in the new amount.
That's the right thing to do. Yes, the insurance company made a mistake but they're trying to correct it and are hoping that all parties involved will be morally above board too.
every one is right but i wanted to propose that often when a large business makes a mistake, that was clearly their fault there is usually a protocol in place where they do "eat it" and the customer is a maybe issued an apology but not fined or whatever. so i sort of see where maybe you might expect this.
But not all businesses do this and as long as you call the company and confirm that they really are the ones asking for this ( not just a family member playing games) then you should take care of it as the company requests.
unless they had a good reason for the mistake -- like some one in your family screwed up the paper work, then i would probably not ever recommend anyone ever do business with them again. which is why most companies try to make it right.
bottom line though you need to do the right thing, But confirm wiht the company first.
If I get a check from an insurance agency for something like this I am not always in the "know" of exactly how much it should have been and I would have gone straight to the bank to deposit it so I wouldn't misplace it. That is what a normal person would do I think.
It does sometimes happen that I won't make it to the bank right away to do my checks but it would have only been a matter of days.
I think in this instance that the insurance company has to bite the bullet and pay the same amount to the one left out that they should have received. It was their clerk who didn't read the will or specifications.
While it is nice of you to mail that amount back in to the company, I do suppose it's the right thing to do.
