Estate of Charles Thomas Merrill v. Karen Merrill, n/k/a Karen Blilie
The Fourth District reversed portions of an equitable distribution scheme, holding that term-life insurance policies with no cash surrender value are not marital assets because they have no value until the insured's death, so neither the proceeds from the wife's post-petition sale of her term policy nor the husband's term policy could be included in equitable distribution. The court also reversed equal division of the proceeds from all six race cars because one car was non-marital, and rejected a promissory-estoppel theory for awarding the wife a share of the husband's policy.
Key facts
- Charles and Karen Merrill married in 1999; the husband petitioned for dissolution in 2019, died before the final trial, and his estate was substituted as a party.
- On the petition date the wife owned a term-life policy (the Lincoln policy) payable on the husband's death, which she sold for cash after the petition was filed, with proceeds held in attorneys' trust accounts.
- +2 more key facts with a free trial
Holdings
- A term life insurance policy with no cash surrender value is not a marital asset because it has no value until the contingency of the insured's death occurs; an asset that does not exist…
- +2 more holdings with a free trial
Why it matters
Useful authority on the intersection of insurance and equitable distribution: term life policies without cash surrender value are valueless on the cut-off date and fall outside the marital estate, and proceeds from… — full analysis with a trial
Read the full opinion, holdings & search — free for 30 days
The full opinion PDF, the rules the court applied, our significance analysis, the background facts, and full-text search across every tracked Florida decision — in your hands.
- Search every tracked Florida decision in seconds
- Save, tag & file the cases that matter into your own library
- Read the full plain-English analysis and holdings
Not ready to sign up? Get the free Friday digest — the week's key Florida decisions by email, no login required.
Florida Court Tracker provides summaries of publicly available court opinions for informational and research purposes only. This is not legal advice and does not create an attorney–client relationship. Always verify holdings against the official opinion.