After 15 years of marriage, Cocoy and Cacai filed a Petition for Legal Separation. The court granted their Petition. Three months after the decree…

Explanation

The law recognizes that a person has an insurable interest in the life of his or her spouse, which is a necessary condition for valid life insurance. However, Article 63 of the Family Code states that a decree of legal separation does not sever the marriage bonds but disqualifies the offending spouse from inheriting from the innocent spouse by intestate succession and revokes any testamentary provisions favoring the offending spouse. Article 64 further allows the innocent spouse to revoke the designation of the offending spouse as beneficiary in any insurance policy after the decree becomes final. In Gercio v. Canada, the Supreme Court denied recovery to a former spouse under the specific facts and policy provisions of that case, but did not establish a blanket rule that a legally separated spouse can never recover insurance proceeds. Thus, whether Cocoy can recover depends on whether he is the offending spouse and whether any revocation of beneficiary designation has been made.

Application to the facts

Cocoy and Cacai were married for 15 years before filing a petition for legal separation, which the court granted. After the decree became final, Cocoy insured Cacai's life. The law provides that only the offending spouse is disqualified from inheriting and may have beneficiary status revoked by the innocent spouse. Since the question does not specify which spouse was at fault, it cannot be determined from the facts whether Cocoy is disqualified from recovering insurance proceeds. If Cocoy is the offending spouse and Cacai revokes his designation as beneficiary, he cannot recover. If Cocoy is not the offending spouse or if no revocation occurs, recovery may still be possible, subject to the terms of the policy and applicable law.