Louisiana: Beneficiary Disputes, Concursus, and Interpleader Under Louisiana Law

When Louisiana law decides the dispute

Louisiana law usually governs an individual policy or account owned by a Louisiana resident. Federal law controls ERISA employer plans and federal programs such as FEGLI and SGLI, and can displace the rules below. See federal programs.

Divorce and ex-spouse beneficiaries

Life insurance and annuities. A 2024 act added La. R.S. 22:911.1. It provides that a revocable designation of a spouse as beneficiary of life or endowment insurance or an annuity is revoked by divorce if the divorce came after the designation and the former spouses were still divorced at the death. The proceeds are paid as though the former spouse had died first. A judgment of divorce or a property-settlement agreement can provide otherwise, but only expressly.¹

Retirement plans. The same act added La. R.S. 9:2449.1, which applies a similar rule to pension, profit-sharing, retirement and similar benefit plans. It does not apply to plans under Louisiana’s public retirement law.²

Payor protection. An insurer or plan that pays the former spouse in good faith is protected until it receives written notice of the divorce and has a reasonable time to act on it.¹

Prospective only. The act states that it has “prospective application only and shall not apply to beneficiaries named prior to the effective date of this Act.”² For a designation made before then, the older rules still apply, and the policy language and any divorce settlement become central. That makes the date of the designation an important fact in any Louisiana dispute.

Wills. Separately, a testamentary provision in favor of a former spouse is revoked by divorce under the Civil Code, unless the testator provided otherwise.³

Changing a beneficiary: strict compliance

Louisiana generally requires the policy’s change procedure to be followed. Federal courts applying Louisiana law have declined to accept “substantial compliance” when the insured never submitted the required written request.

The same argument can come up when a Louisiana power of attorney is used in a case filed elsewhere, and a default can end the case before anyone rules on it. In New York Life v. Anderman (S.D. Tex. 2026), an insured’s son challenged beneficiary changes made under a Louisiana power of attorney, contending, with reliance on Marsch, that the document did not authorize the agent to name herself. The agent never answered the interpleader. The court entered a default judgment that she “shall take nothing from the life insurance proceeds” without discussing Louisiana law or the power of attorney, so the case is not a ruling on the agent’s authority.⁴

Employer-plan life insurance governed by ERISA is different, because federal common law applies; see change of beneficiary.

Slayer rule

Louisiana’s insurance code bars a beneficiary who is held criminally responsible for the insured’s death by a final judgment, or judicially determined to have participated in an intentional, unjustified killing of the insured.⁵ The Civil Code has a parallel rule for successions.⁶

See the slayer rule guide for other states.

Simultaneous death

When the insured and the beneficiary die and there is “not sufficient evidence that they have died otherwise than simultaneously,” the proceeds are distributed as if the insured survived the beneficiary, “unless otherwise expressly provided in the policy.”⁷ This guide did not find a general 120-hour survival statute for Louisiana insurance; read the policy’s survivorship clause. See simultaneous death.

Community property

Louisiana is a community property state. Property acquired during the community regime through the effort, skill or industry of either spouse, and property not classified by law as separate, is community property.⁸ A surviving spouse may therefore claim an interest in benefits paid for with community funds, which can lead an insurer to file a concursus or interpleader. Federal programs can override such claims; see Wissner v. Wissner.

Payment deadlines and interest

• 60 days. Death claims must be settled within 60 days after receipt of due proof of death. If an insurer fails to do so “without just cause,” the amount bears 8% interest a year from the date of receipt of due proof until paid.⁹
• Interest after 20 days. Interest also begins to accrue 20 days after receipt of due proof of death, at the rate the insurer pays on proceeds left on deposit. This does not apply to accidental death and dismemberment claims or to certain home-service insurers, and it does not take away any greater benefit the beneficiary has.¹⁰

When an insurer deposits the money in court, the claimants then argue over interest and fees as part of the case; see discharge, fees, and interest.

Concursus: Louisiana’s interpleader

In Louisiana state court, the equivalent of interpleader is a concursus:

A concursus proceeding is one in which two or more persons having competing or conflicting claims to money, property, or mortgages or privileges on property are impleaded and required to assert their respective claims contradictorily against all other parties to the proceeding.

— La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 4651

Many Louisiana insurance disputes are filed in federal court instead, under the federal interpleader statute or Rule 22. See interpleader in state court.

Decisions

• Allstate Life Ins. Co. v. Marcelle, No. 24-30349 (5th Cir. Mar. 12, 2025) (unpublished): strict compliance; no substantial-compliance exception. Fifth Circuit (PDF).
• Transamerica Advisors Life Ins. Co. v. Marsch, No. 3:16-cv-00247-RLB (M.D. La. Mar. 23, 2017): an agent under a power of attorney could not name herself beneficiary without specific authority; a sole legatee has no claim to annuity proceeds payable to a named beneficiary (La. R.S. 22:912(B)(1)). Court ruling (PDF).
• New York Life Ins. Co. v. Anderman, No. 4:25-cv-06165 (S.D. Tex. Apr. 27, 2026): a Texas federal default judgment against a claimant named through changes made under a Louisiana power of attorney; the self-dealing argument based on Marsch was raised but not decided. Default judgment (PDF); summary.
• New York Life Ins. Co. v. Starks, No. 16-17484 (E.D. La. Apr. 27, 2020): conviction is a final judgment for the slayer provision despite a pending appeal. govinfo.gov (PDF).
• Adams v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., No. 24-668-SDD-RLB (M.D. La. June 9, 2026): for an ERISA plan, a recorded phone change of beneficiary was effective under federal substantial-compliance principles, which shows how ERISA can produce a different result from Louisiana’s strict rule. govinfo.gov (PDF).

Related guides

• State law differences
• Change of beneficiary
• Slayer rule
• Glossary: concursus

Footnotes

1. La. R.S. 22:911.1 (added by Acts 2024, No. 94). Louisiana State Legislature. ↩ ↩²

2. S.B. 49, 2024 Reg. Sess. (enacted as Acts 2024, No. 94), enrolled text, including R.S. 9:2449.1 and Section 3. Louisiana State Legislature. ↩ ↩²

3. La. Civ. Code art. 1608(5). Justia (unofficial). ↩

4. New York Life Ins. Co. v. Anderman, No. 4:25-cv-06165 (S.D. Tex.), order granting default judgment, ECF No. 20 (signed Apr. 27, 2026, entered Apr. 28, 2026), court order (PDF); order of interpleader disbursement, ECF No. 24 (entered July 26, 2026). The power-of-attorney argument is described from the parties’ filings. Summary. ↩

5. La. R.S. 22:901(D). Louisiana State Legislature. ↩

6. La. Civ. Code art. 941. See the slayer rule table. ↩

7. La. R.S. 22:911. Louisiana State Legislature. ↩

8. La. Civ. Code art. 2338. Justia (unofficial). ↩

9. La. R.S. 22:1811. Louisiana State Legislature. ↩

10. La. R.S. 22:908. Louisiana State Legislature. ↩