On the death of an insured, any life insurance acquired by the insured or the insured’s spouse and payable to the intestate insured’s estate benefits the surviving spouse and children and the proceeds shall be divided between them according to the statutes of distribution without being in any manner subject to the debts of the decedent. If the proceeds of the insurance are payable to the estate of a testate decedent or the trustee of a revocable trust of which the decedent was a settlor, the proceeds shall pass as part of the estate or trust and under the dispositive provisions of the will or trust agreement, as ordinary cash, whether or not the will or trust agreement uses any apt or express words referring to the insurance proceeds, but the proceeds shall not be subject to the debts of the decedent unless specifically charged with the debts in the will or trust agreement.
Code 1858, § 2478 (deriv. Acts 1845-1846, ch. 216, § 3); Shan., § 4231; Code 1932, § 8456; Acts 1969, ch. 233, § 1; 1972, ch. 845, § 1; 1976, ch. 668, § 1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 56-1108; Acts 2007, ch. 8, § 13.
Cross-References. Benefit payments and other relief provided by fraternal benefit society exempt from debts, §56-25-403.
Textbooks. Pritchard on Wills and Administration of Estates (4th ed., Phillips and Robinson), §§ 151, 592, 611, 636, 986.
Tennessee Jurisprudence, 12 Tenn. Juris., Executors and Administrators, § 32; 15 Tenn. Juris., Insurance, §§ 30, 73; 25 Tenn. Juris., Wills, § 128.
Law Reviews.
Davis v. Davis: The End of Interspousal Tort Immunity Tips the Scales on the Last Intrafamilial Immunity Stronghold, 14 Mem. St. U.L. Rev. 270 (1984).