A TRUE STORY Great true lawyer story! (Can you say "too smart for one's own good"?)
A Charlotte, NC, man having purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month having smoked his entire stock-pile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the man filed a claim against the insurance company.
In his claim, the man stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued....and won! In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The Judge stated nevertheless, that the man held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be "unacceptable fire," and was obligated to pay the claim.
Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000.00 to the man for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."
NOW FOR THE BEST PART
After the man cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the man was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.
-This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Darwin Award Contest
I read this before, maybe in the journal For the Defense. I thought it was hilarious.
Question about pre-nups for second (or whatever) marriages: what if neither spouse has much assets (no property/house); and little 401K carried over from before second marriage, etc.? In other words, if second marriage is where the couple will, in effect, gather their greatest material possessions, what need would there be for a prenuptial? Can not the small amount of material possessions be in a Will (i.e., jewelery and collectibles of hers to go to her children)?