…your son. With her as the only beneficiary.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
My son, Eric, was twenty-four. His girlfriend, Tara, was thirty-two. They’d been together for three years. Eleven months before my husband died, Tara had used his laptop to change the beneficiary on his policy to herself. My husband had been sick for months by then, and Eric had been helping him with his paperwork. Tara had used Eric’s access.
And two weeks ago, she’d taken out a $750,000 policy on Eric.
My attorney, Mr. Fields, contacted the police immediately. A detective called Eric that afternoon and asked him to come in. I went with him.
Eric didn’t believe it at first. He said Tara loved him. Then the detective showed him the policy with his forged signature, and the insurance company’s record of Tara’s IP address.
Eric sat in the interview room with his head in his hands for a long time. Then he said quietly, “She told me Dad wanted her to have the money. She said I’d get it too, once we got married.”
Tara was arrested for fraud and forgery. The insurance company reversed the beneficiary change and paid my husband’s policy to me. The house she bought was seized and sold.
Eric moved back home for a few months. He finished college that spring. I paid for it with his father’s money, just as his father had wanted.
At his graduation, Eric hugged me and said, “Thank you for not believing her.” I told him I’d never stop believing in him. I’d just stopped believing in anyone who told me not to ask questions.
