Margaret Losinger, 68, is about to inherit over $1 million from her ex-boyfriend’s retirement plan.
Losinger and Jeffrey Rolison were together in the 1980s. In 1987, Rolison listed her as the sole beneficiary on a handwritten form, which typically takes priority over a will. Now, his brothers, who just found out about this, are fighting her claim. Richard Rolison said, “The whole thing’s been overwhelming.”
Losinger and Rolison met while playing frisbee in their twenties. They moved in together, and Losinger hoped for marriage and children, but Rolison didn’t.
After two years, Losinger ended the relationship and married someone else. Rolison later had a long-term partner, Mary Lou Murray.
Jeffrey Rolison was employed at a Procter & Gamble (P&G) plant, he enrolled in the company’s savings plan and named Margaret Losinger as the person who would inherit the savings if something happened to him. However, even though he made this decision in 1987, their romantic relationship ended two years later, in 1989. Despite their breakup, Rolison never updated the beneficiary information on his savings plan.
After Rolison died at 59, his brothers, Richard and Brian, who are handling his estate, were surprised to discover Losinger’s beneficiary status.
Losinger is set to inherit the entire $1.15 million P&G plan. The brothers argue that P&G didn’t properly inform Rolison about updating his beneficiary details.
P&G claims they provided enough warnings, including online statements and notifications. One message said: “You don’t have any beneficiary designations online. Any previous ones on file with the Plan will be kept by P&G but are not viewable on this site.”
The brothers think this message was confusing and should have defaulted to Rolison’s estate if there was no clear beneficiary.
Despite their arguments, the court sided with P&G and Losinger. The brothers are appealing the decision.
