Robert C. Sears and Lavonne Stern v. Karen Austin

One Cecil Sears, now deceased, was an employee of the Internal Revenue Service of the United States. As a federal employee he was covered by a life insurance policy made available to him through the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance Act, 5 U.S.C.A. § 2091 et seq. The question presented in this case is to whom shall the proceeds of this policy be paid.

Robert Sears and LaVonne Stern, appellants herein, are the children of the deceased, and they claim that they are entitled to the life insurance proceeds because they contend that no valid designation of beneficiary was made in ac cordance with the provisions of the policy. Karen Austin, appellee herein, claims the proceeds by virtue of a holographic will, executed by the deceased on January 20, 1958, which reads in part as follows:

The proceeds of the policy have been deposited by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company into the registry of the court, and the insurance company is no longer a party to the litigation.

The district court found that the proceeds of the policy should be paid to Karen Austin, and appellants have filed a timely appeal from that decision. Jurisdiction in the district court was based on 28 U.S.C.A.…