Ohio Rev. Code » Chapter 5815
Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Rev. Code § 5815.33 (2026)

Termination of marriage revokes designation of spouse as beneficiary

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section ORCcodes.ohio.gov (official) Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar
Effective:
January 1, 2007
Latest Legislation:
House Bill 416 - 126th General Assembly
PDF:
Download Authenticated PDF
 

(A) As used in this section:

(1) "Beneficiary" means a beneficiary of a life insurance policy, an annuity, a payable on death account, an individual retirement plan, an employer death benefit plan, or another right to death benefits arising under a contract.

(2) "Employer death benefit plan" means any funded or unfunded plan or program, or any fund, that is established to provide the beneficiaries of an employee participating in the plan, program, or fund with benefits that may be payable upon the death of that employee.

(3) "Individual retirement plan" means an individual retirement account or individual retirement annuity as defined in section 408 of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C.A. 408, as amended.

(B)(1) Unless the designation of beneficiary or the judgment or decree granting the divorce, dissolution of marriage, or annulment specifically provides otherwise, and subject to division (B)(2) of this section, if a spouse designates the other spouse as a beneficiary or if another person having the right to designate a beneficiary on behalf of the spouse designates the other spouse as a beneficiary, and if, after either type of designation, the spouse who made the designation or on whose behalf the designation was made, is divorced from the other spouse, obtains a dissolution of marriage, or has the marriage to the other spouse annulled, then the other spouse shall be deemed to have predeceased the spouse who made the designation or on whose behalf the designation was made, and the designation of the other spouse as a beneficiary is revoked as a result of the divorce, dissolution of marriage, or annulment.

(2) If the spouse who made the designation or on whose behalf the designation was made remarries the other spouse, then, unless the designation no longer can be made, the other spouse shall not be deemed to have predeceased the spouse who made the designation or on whose behalf the designation was made, and the designation of the other spouse as a beneficiary is not revoked because of the previous divorce, dissolution of marriage, or annulment.

(C) An agent, bank, broker, custodian, issuer, life insurance company, plan administrator, savings and loan association, transfer agent, trustee, or other person is not liable in damages or otherwise in a civil or criminal action or proceeding for distributing or disposing of property in reliance on and in accordance with a designation of beneficiary as described in division (B)(1) of this section, if both of the following apply:

(1) The distribution or disposition otherwise is proper;

(2) The agent, bank, broker, custodian, issuer, life insurance company, plan administrator, savings and loan association, transfer agent, trustee, or other person did not have any notice of the facts that resulted in the revocation of the beneficiary designation by operation of division (B)(1) of this section.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 2009–2023 · leading case: Sveen v. Melin, 584 U.S. 811 (2018).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Sveen v. Melin, 584 U.S. 811 (2018). “1–10–04 (2010); Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §5815.33 (Lexis 2017); 20 Pa.”
Motorist Life Ins. Co. v. Sherbourne, 2014 Ohio 5205 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014). · cites it 15× “On March 21, 2014, Charles filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that pursuant to R.C. 5815.33(B)(1), the termination of Patricia and William’s marriage automatically revoked William’s designation of Patricia as the beneficiary of the life insurance policies at issue.”
Fletcher v. Est. of Fletcher, 2014 Ohio 5377 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014). · cites it 2× “1 {¶23} Following oral argument in the present case, the parties submitted supplemental briefs on the issue of the applicability of R.C. 5815.33(B)(1) (former R.C. 1339.63(B)(1)), which provides in relevant part: Unless the designation of beneficiary or the judgment or decree…”
Smith v. Metro. Life Ins. Co. (S.D. Ohio 2020). · cites it 2× “In Pressley, the Sixth Circuit held that a Michigan state statute that is similar to O.R.C. § 5815.33 was preempted by ERISA. Id.”
Principal Life Ins. Co. v. Howard-Kembitzky (S.D. Ohio 2023). · cites it 2× “Further, neither the Plan nor the Ohio Revised Code require Principal Life to deem Mindy to have predeceased Francis for purposes of determining his life insurance beneficiary.”
Colonial Life & Accident Ins. v. Est. of Darrell Stewart (6th Cir. 2020). “” Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 5815.33 (B)(1). In July 2017, Taylor, Garrett, and Summer each filed claims with Colonial, as did Angel Hunter, who claimed she was Darrell’s daughter.”
State ex rel. Daniels v. State Teachers Ret. Sys., 2017 Ohio 7847 (Ohio Ct. App. 2017). “Daniels presented additional arguments in support of STRS owing him a duty based on R.C. 5815.33(B)(1), R.C. 3307.562, and Ohio Adm.”
Kern v. Mentor, 913 N.E.2d 483 (Ohio Ct. App. 2009). “Guidance as to what the public policy should be is set forth in the state of Ohio through R.C. 5815.33, providing that a prior designation of a spouse in a life insurance policy is invalid if the marriage is terminated by a subsequent *459 divorce, dissolution, or annulment.”
Prudential v. Cushman, 2015 Ohio 3394 (Ohio Ct. App. 2015). “See R.C. 5815.33(B)(1). See also Pa.Consol.Stat.”
Ohio Rev. Code § 5815.33(B)(1): 4 cases
Motorist Life Ins. Co. v. Sherbourne, 2014 Ohio 5205 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014). “On March 21, 2014, Charles filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that pursuant to R.C. 5815.33(B)(1), the termination of Patricia and William’s marriage automatically revoked William’s designation of Patricia as the beneficiary of the life insurance policies at issue.”
Fletcher v. Est. of Fletcher, 2014 Ohio 5377 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014). “1 {¶23} Following oral argument in the present case, the parties submitted supplemental briefs on the issue of the applicability of R.C. 5815.33(B)(1) (former R.C. 1339.63(B)(1)), which provides in relevant part: Unless the designation of beneficiary or the judgment or decree…”
State ex rel. Daniels v. State Teachers Ret. Sys., 2017 Ohio 7847 (Ohio Ct. App. 2017). “Daniels presented additional arguments in support of STRS owing him a duty based on R.C. 5815.33(B)(1), R.C. 3307.562, and Ohio Adm.”
Prudential v. Cushman, 2015 Ohio 3394 (Ohio Ct. App. 2015). “See R.C. 5815.33(B)(1). See also Pa.Consol.Stat.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.