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Insurance company suing over payout to mother of 2 boys killed by estranged husband

The lawsuit claims the woman may not be legally entitled to the money amounting to more than $4 million.
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A law book with a gavel - Insurance law

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Fidelity insurance company is suing the mother of two boys killed by her estranged husband over a $4 million life insurance payout. 

The suit claims the woman may not have been legally entitled to that money. She's also trying to collect $10 million from her late husband's, Paul Reinhart's, estate.

Investigators say Reinhart, 46, shot and killed the couple's two young sons on May 4. He then set fire to the family's vacation home near Suwannee in western Florida before shooting and killing himself. 

The legal battle, currently in federal court, is shedding new light on the father’s actions days before the killings and hints at the vast amounts of money at stake for surviving family members. 

It shows Reinhart tried to change two term life policies on April 26 to keep his wife from collecting the money. His two sons would instead become the primary beneficiaries.

Copies of those policies obtained by Fresh Take Florida show both were worth $2 million each. The agency also read through a related court case and found Reinhart had updated his will just 2 weeks before his death. 

In the lawsuit, Fidelity claims Reinhart's requested changes never went through because he didn't specify the city and state where the document was signed. The company has put a stop to the checks and placed the money in a bank account controlled by Fidelity's law firm until the case is settled.

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