Southwest Flight Attendant’s Widower Loses $431K in Benefits

The widower of a Southwest Airlines Co. flight attendant lost his bid for $431,000 in life insurance benefits when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found those benefits belonged to the flight attendant’s great-nephew.

The widower argued that the beneficiary designation in favor of his late wife’s great-nephew—which she submitted on paper in 2008, three years before their marriage—was invalid. A 2013 summary plan description said Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. wouldn’t accept beneficiary designations made on paper, the widower argued.

The Fifth Circuit disagreed, saying this provision in MetLife’s plan description applied prospectively and didn’t invalidate paper ...