Life insurance policy becomes issue after fatal vehicle crash

April 17--JETMORE -- The widow of Terry Nusser, a businessman who died last August after a highway crash in Hodgeman County, is suing another woman over the payout of a $1 million life insurance policy.

Evelyn Nusser, Jetmore, filed for divorce against Terry Nusser in September 2011. What followed was a "bitter and protracted divorce case" -- so described in one court filing -- that was not finalized when a Chevrolet Cruze drifted across the center line on the night of Aug. 27 and struck the semitrailer driven by Terry Nusser. Nusser, 63, lived for four days after the crash but both drivers would die.

Subsequently, Evelyn Nusser learned she was no longer named on her late husband's life insurance policy. The suit claims the beneficiary was changed to Debbie Kyzar, who was Terry Nusser's girlfriend and, for a period, chief financial officer for Western Plains Medical Complex, Dodge City.

Eveyln Nusser claims in a U.S. District Court lawsuit lodged this month that a 2011 Hodgeman County court order barred the couple "from canceling any existing insurance coverage or altering or changing the beneficiaries or insured parties under any policies of insurance" while the divorce case was pending.

Last week, officials announced Kyzar, 53, would go from interim to chief financial officer at a hospital in Sanford, North Carolina. She purchased a home in Sanford in December 2015, according to county records in North Carolina. Her house next to the golf course in Dodge City is for sale. Her Dodge City attorney, Andrew Stein, said she declined to comment.

Evelyn Nusser, 59, also declined to respond to The News.

Court battles

The Nussers married in 1975 in Dodge City. He eventually would have multiple financial interests that included Nusser Motors Inc. and Nusser Oil Co., as well as agricultural interests in Kansas and Missouri, and a revocable trust. He also had a car collection -- including five Corvettes, at one point -- and a coin collection estimated on one document as worth $450,000.

The couple lived separately for several years before she filed for divorce, citing incompatibility.

Much of the divorce fight centered over money, including her legal team's efforts to determine the extent of his assets.

Her lawyers also filed papers claiming late or insufficient payments from Terry Nusser. In a legal filing in November regarding the estate, Evelyn Nusser said her late husband had failed to pay monthly expenses from May 2014 until his death in 2015, and the unpaid sum totaled $37,695.

In 2014, Terry Nusser wanted to bifurcate the divorce from the assets matter in case he died or became incapacitated during neck surgery and was still legally married although he had a "long-term girlfriend," the court document said.

Evelyn Nusser's attorney responded in a court filing: "If he wants to be divorced from his really, really long-term wife, he should in good faith and promptly cooperate with the discovery process."

Kyzar kept the home in Dodge City even when she worked outside Kansas as an interim hospital finance official. She also owns beachfront property, purchased in spring 2013, in the Florida Panhandle. The Florida residence and land together are worth over $1.1 million, according to Florida's Walton County online records.

In early 2015, Terry Nusser and Kyzar jointly sued Evelyn Nusser; Terry Nusser's sister Jan Thoben who also had a stake in the family-inherited Nusser Motors; and Rodney Beltz, a former employee at Nusser Motors. The plaintiffs claimed the three defendants had engaged in surveillance on them, had removed information from Terry Nusser's work computer in Jetmore and were defaming them.

That case is closed, but probate of Terry Nusser's estate is pending in Ford County District Court.

Life insurance

Evelyn Nusser's suit in U.S. District Court charges that around January 1, 2013, Terry Nusser tried to change the primary beneficiary on the Jackson National Life Insurance Co. policy, even though the court order against changes remained in effect.

Sometime between Terry Nusser's death on Aug. 31, 2015, and Nov. 2, 2015, Kyzar made arrangements with Jackson National to receive the death benefits from the policy, Evelyn Nusser's suit claims.

Kyzar is currently in possession of the death benefit, the suit charges, and when the representatives of the estate notified Kyzar, she "did not respond or relinquish possession of the death benefit," the suit claims.

The Nussers' three children are grown, and son James Nusser is filling the role as executor of the estate. In December, the estate petitioned Ford County District Court to order Kyzar to appear and provide disclosure as to the inventory of Terry Nusser's assets. The information request includes records regarding distributions of life insurance policy proceeds and any correspondence with life insurance companies.

Evelyn Nusser is asking the federal court to rule that: Terry Nusser's requested beneficiary change is void; retention of the benefit by Kyzar is unjust; and Kyzar knew at the time she submitted the claim to Jackson National that Terry Nusser had violated the court order by changing beneficiaries.

She also is claiming she was the sole beneficiary of the policy at the time of her husband's death and is owed $1 million, plus money for interest, damages and costs.

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