131 Ga. 568 | Ga. | 1908
W. A. Bird applied for insurance in tbe American Guild, and bis certificate was issued to bim on April 28, 1903. Thereafter, on January 28, 1904, be surrendered bis original certificate, with a request for a change of beneficiary; and a'new certificate was issued to bim on that date, with tbe benefits made payable to Thomas Ii. Green, his nephew. Tbe premiums of this last contract of insurance were paid out of funds belonging to Thomas EL Green, which tbe insured at that time bad in his bands as guardian of Thomas EL Green. Upon tbe death of tbe insured tbe insurer paid to Charles EL Green, who was tbe insured’s successor as guardian of Thomas EL Green, $1,000, tbe amount of tbe policy. Y. E. Bargeron, as administrator of Bird, filed a petition to marshal tbe assets of tbe estate, and for direction. The W. A. Doody Company, a judgment creditor, and Charles EL Green, guardian of Thomas EL Green, filed answers. The case was submitted to tbe judge upon an agreed statement of - facts, to be decided by bim without a jury. In addition to tbe foregoing recitals of fact, it was agreed, that tbe debt due Thomas EL Green by W. A. Bird as guardian was tbe amount represented by bis last return as such guardian, which was less than $l;000; that W. A. Doody Company’s
There is nothing ruled in the' case of Exchange Bank v. Loh, 104 Ga. 446 (31 S. E. 459, 44 L. R. A. 372), which militates with this view. In that case Hudgins took out a policy of insurance on his life, payable to himself, and assigned the same to the bank to secure a debt. The policy was collected by the bank, and the court held that Hudgins’ administrator was entitled to recover of the bank the surplus of the money collected by it'after paying the indebtedness of Hudgins to the bank. .That case turned on the point that the policy was payable to the administrator of the insured, and that when the policy was assigned to the bank to secure a debt, the -bank was not entitled to withhold from the administrator of the insured the surplus after getting the money for which the policy was hypothecated.
There is still another reason why the proceeds of the policy are no part of the estate of the insured. The policy was issued at the instance and by the procurement of the insured. The beneficiary took no part in the transaction. An applicant for life insurance, acting in good' faith, may legally designate as the beneficiary in the certificate of insurance one who has no insurable interest in the life of the insured, provided there be at the time the certificate is issued no restriction in the policy, or the charter or by-laws of the company, or in the statutes of the State, forbidding the right to
Judgment affirmed.