How to Track Down Unclaimed Life Insurance
Life insurance is intended to help your family and loved ones after your death. It may help with bills and funeral costs or just give them a cushion for any unexpected expenses. Unfortunately, sometimes when someone passes away, especially if it is sudden, the family does not know there is a life insurance policy. Perhaps the family believes there could be one but does not know anything more than that. This could result in unclaimed life insurance.
What is Unclaimed Life Insurance?
An unclaimed life insurance benefit is basically what it sounds like. It is a life insurance policy benefit that has not been claimed by the beneficiary. A life insurance policy is taken out by someone, and it is payable to the beneficiary upon the insured person’s death. However, in some cases, the beneficiary does not know the policy exists. When this happens, the beneficiary cannot collect the benefits that are due to them.
If you suspect there is a life insurance policy, there are some steps you can take to determine if there is one. There is some information you should have available when trying to determine if there is a policy. Ensure that you have the full legal name, Social Security number, and all former addresses of the deceased.
What Do I Do If I Think There is Unclaimed Life Insurance?
There are a number of reasons why life insurance remains unclaimed. The best way to mitigate this is to inform all beneficiaries that they are the beneficiary and give them all the pertinent information. If you strongly believe that you are the beneficiary of a policy, the insurance company cannot give you information about the policy until the policyholder passes away. Even if the policyholder is terminal and death is imminent, it is a privacy issue, and the insurance company cannot disclose information.
Suppose you truly believe there is a policy and you are the beneficiary. In that case, you want to obtain as much information about the deceased as possible and then begin taking the steps listed below to determine if there is a policy.
Insurance Policy Paperwork
What would be best is if you could find some type of paperwork referencing an insurance policy. Even if you could find references to payments for premiums such as in a bank book or bank statements, these could be helpful. This is all information that signals there could be an insurance policy with a specific company. It gives you a place to start. If you have access to the email of the deceased, you may be able to find some correspondence via email that indicates there was an insurance policy.
You want to check to see if there is a safe deposit box or a safe in the deceased’s house. There could be pertinent documents in either of those places. If you have power of attorney, you may be able to go to the bank and request paper statements from the bank. They could indicate that there was an insurance policy. Before you take any other steps, look everywhere you can for paperwork. This is the easiest way to determine if there was a policy. If you cannot find anything in the house, consider contacting the previous employers of the deceased. They might be able to tell you if they offered any type of instance policy to their employees and who to contact about them.
Search For Insurance Company
If you have been lucky enough to find proof of any insurance policy, follow the directions for the company to file a claim. If you have the name of an insurance company but no proof, you can reach out to them for information and determine if there is a policy for the deceased. If you can’t locate a policy or you have a policy, but you cannot locate the insurance company, you should contact the state insurance department.
You can also contact the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s (NAICs) Life Insurance Policy System Locator. This is an organization that checks with all insurance companies that participate in determining if there is a policy in the name of your deceased. This group contains a database that can be the first step for you when looking for insurance policy information. You will need some information about the deceased, including legal first and last name, date of birth, date of death, and social security number. You will not be able to do a search without this information.
Make Sure It Is The Right State
It is helpful if you know in which state the policy was purchased. The state in which the person died is not necessarily an indicator of the state where they bought the policy. It is essential to know if the deceased lived in a different state or several different states. This may help you when searching for a life insurance policy because if you are looking in the wrong state, you may quickly hit a dead end.
It is also possible that the life insurance company went out of business or became defunct. You want to reach out to the state insurance commissioner to find records for those insurance companies. But, again, it must be in the proper state.
Look For A Connection
If you have scoured the house of the deceased and looked at bank records for information about a life insurance policy and still come up empty, there could be some other connection. Perhaps the deceased has a financial planner or a specific insurance agent they worked with or even mentioned. It could even be an accountant that helped the deceased. If there are any of those individuals, reach out to them to see if they helped the deceased with a life insurance policy or know of a life insurance policy.
If you are the executor of the will or estate or have power of attorney, you may be able to get access to these documents. If you can, get the deceased tax returns to determine if there was any interest received from an insurance policy. If so, find out from which company and reach out to them.
MIB database
Another option is to search the MIB database. There is a charge for this search, but if it yields results, it might be worth it. This is a database that was created by life insurance companies. This database helps tracks applications for insurance. If you have a high amount of confidence that there is an insurance policy and you are the beneficiary, it may be beneficial to you to pay for a search.
Unclaimed Property Files
There is a database called missingmoney.com that is endorsed by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. This database allows you to do a search for any unclaimed property, including unclaimed life insurance, in just about every state. To do the research online and begin your search, you need just a small amount of information. This information includes the name, city, and state where the deceased lived. Once you have that, you can begin this search online. It is critical that you have a death certificate and all necessary information before you begin one of these searches. It will help to make your search easier.
Need More Help?
It can be challenging navigating all of these systems, policies, and companies, especially when you are also dealing with the death of a loved one. Life insurance may seem daunting if you do not know where to begin. The good news is that you do not have to do it alone. We are here to help. Come over to the GoalryMall, and you will find everything you need about insurance, including life insurance. Also, in the Mall, you will discover Insurry.com. This is the place for all things insurance.
You can find personalized insurance advice. In addition, you can find out more information about life insurance, in general. This can help you understand the policy that your loved one left behind. What may be of particular interest is finding out how life insurance pays out. These details are essential once you are able to locate your loved one’s life insurance policy. We can help you understand what riders are on a life insurance policy so you can have a clear idea of the policy your loved one had. We are sure to have all the information you need.
Conclusion
The death of a loved one can be a trying and difficult time. While you have to work through your grief, you also have to deal with insurance companies, bills, and possibly, a house. You have personal items that you need to make decisions about, and you may not feel equipped to make all of those decisions right now. While some decisions can wait, not all of them can. Life insurance policies are one of the items that should not wait. You do not want to put yourself in a position where there is unclaimed life insurance for which you are the beneficiary. While it is essential to give yourself time to handle the affairs of your loved one, life insurance should be one of the first items to handle.