Gehrenbeck

The plaintiff, a mutual benefit association, issued a beneficiary certificate to one of its members o-r companions named Gehrenbeck, and his wife Margaretha was named therein as the beneficiary. The wife died some months prior to the death of Gehrenbeck, but no other beneficiary had been named by Gehrenbeck at the time of bis death. The administrator of the deceased wife’s estate claims that the three thousand dollars due on the certificate became a part of her estate on the death of her husband; and the children of the deceased husband by a former wife claim that it should go to them under a by-law of the plaintiff. The contest is between the defendants, they having interpleaded, and the plaintiff having paid the money into court. The children of the deceased husband had judgment, and the administrator of the deceased wife’s estate appeals.

The beneficiary named in the certificate had no interest or property therein that her heirs could succeed to. Her interest was “a mere expectancy of an ineompleted gift.” It was revocable at the will of the insured, and could not ripen into a right until his death. (Hoeft v. Supreme Lodge K. of H., 113 Cal. 91 ; Jory v. Supreme Council A. L.…