Matter of Estate of Schleis
New Mexico Supreme Court
94 N.M. 561, 642 P.2d 164 (1982)
- Written by Meredith Hamilton Alley, JD
Facts
Kathleen Haley (defendant) and Stephen Schleis married in 1975. Schleis took out two term life-insurance policies, named Haley as the beneficiary, and paid for the insurance premiums with community property. Haley and Schleis divorced in 1979. The divorce decree granted Schleis all the personal property he had in his possession at the time of the divorce. Schleis died, and in 1980, the representative of Schleis’s estate (plaintiff) sought summary judgment on the proper distribution of the insurance benefits, arguing, among other things, that because the divorce decree granted Schleis all the personal property in his possession at the time of the divorce, the decree divested Haley of her interest in the insurance benefits. Haley moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Schleis’s estate, holding that there were no issues of material fact. Haley appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Payne, J.)
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