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VETERANS WHIRLBy JAMES L. HICKS MONEY—BUT NOT IN YOU* POCKETAdolph B. Schwartz of Chicago * is just another GI who died in tho war, Joe, but unlike thousand of others, his death may result in *20,. 000 extra in the pocket of your next of kin when you answer your last roll calLLet’s talk about it.When this guy Schwartz died ho left his foster mother, Mrs. Tillio Zazove, $5,000 worth of National Service Life Insurance. (You know, the kind you’d better renew before1'* Jan. 1, 1048.) vHop It HappenedMrs. Zazove would have' been contented with the RVe grand if the Veterans' Administration had not raised the question of whether or not she was legally Adolph's foster mother.0It was finally decided that she was- his foster mother but during the argument over this point her lawyer, for the first time in the history of insurance law, raised another question which might triple ftie value of your present insur-md thereby make legalZazove originally agreed to accept her $5,000 from the Vet* erans* Administration in guaranteed payments of $29.50 a year for ten years, and the same payment thereafter at the same monthly rate as long as she lived.(This is an option given to persons over 30 years old who are beneficiaries of NSLI insurance policies.)Under this arrangement Mrs. Zazove would have received about $3,500 in the first 10 years and thenEayments of $29.50 for the rest of er life. Based on standard death rates, the VA figured that by the time she died she would have re* ceiyed about $5,000.ENTERS A LAWYERBut whan the VA started to argue about parental rights. Mrs. Zazove's lawyer got mad and told the Seventh Uniled States Circuit Court of Appeals that he thought the method which trte VA was ult;-ing to pay off insurance policies was all wrong.He said that the payments should be. figured so that the face of the policy would be paid up during the 10 years for which payments are guaranteed, and that payments at that same rate should be continued until the death of the beneficiary'.SS.M Not $3.5$#In other words. Joe. Mrs. Zazove’s lawyer said that the VA guaran-teed to pay Adolph’s beneficiary $5,000 before sne died. and he wanted $5,000. not $3,500.On behalf of Mrs. Zazove. he sued for monthly payments of $48 08 a month for 10 years (which w^ttld come to about $s.500 and then for $43.08 for the rest of her life.What knocked the VA out is the fact that the Circuit Court ruled in Mrs. Zazove’s favor and said the monthly payments made by the VA should be Ggbred without regard tlt; how long she was expected to live.The lawyers of the Veterans’ Administration then got out their pencits and figured that if such a decision should be upheld by the Supreme Court of the land, the beneficiary of a $10,000 policy, who was 31 years old and lived to be 61. would receive $30,000 or\ a$10,000 policy.They-also figured that if the Supreme Court upholds Mrs. Zazove’s case, and all the GIs who have let their insurance policies lapse reinstate them, the total of the face value of VA insurance in force would rise to more than 100 billion dollars, and each policy eventually would pay off up to double or triple its face value.The exports say that this would mean that the VA insurance fund would go broke.HOW MUCH ARE YOU WORTH?The case is now before the Su-prerrffc Court, and the VA says It cannot and will not make any prepnatlons for distributing the $1,500,000,000 surplus which the insurance fund now has untit the court hands down a decision.It’s an interesting situation. Joe. 1 and one well worth watching, for you can’t lose, no matter how you look at it. if you have one of those $10,000 polices. And instead of being worth $10,000 dead, you may suddenly become worth 130.000.ance iIhistory. * Mrs.
Newspaper Details
Richmond Afro American
Richmond, Virginia, US
Sat, Dec 20, 1947
Page 30
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 01 Jan 2019
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