Life insurance woes!
October 4, 2010 4:09 PM Subscribe
Help me figure out what to do about a missing life insurance policy.
My mom died last month, and I am in the midst of settling her estate. However, I've been unable to locate any info on her life insurance policy. I know she had one, as we discussed it about 7 years ago when my grandmother died. I also know I would be the sole beneficiary.
This is kind of a multi-part question, actually.
01. Is there any way to find out which company is holding her policy without having the actual policy in front of me? If I start calling random local insurance brokers/nationwide insurance companies, armed with her death certificate/SSN/vital stats/&c, can they (&/or will they) give me any information?
02. If someone else (someone who was not the beneficiary) was to find the documentation on the policy, would there be any way they could receive the funds instead of me? (I ask only because my mom's executor is her boyfriend, someone with whom I have had an extremely contentious relationship over the years. So far we have had no issues in settling the estate and no parts of it are being contested. But I guess I'm a little paranoid about it nevertheless - it's a whole lot of money. He says he has found no documents pertaining to this insurance thus far.)
Yes, I already have a lawyer. And an accountant. And a metric fuckton of leftover marble babka.
My mom died last month, and I am in the midst of settling her estate. However, I've been unable to locate any info on her life insurance policy. I know she had one, as we discussed it about 7 years ago when my grandmother died. I also know I would be the sole beneficiary.
This is kind of a multi-part question, actually.
01. Is there any way to find out which company is holding her policy without having the actual policy in front of me? If I start calling random local insurance brokers/nationwide insurance companies, armed with her death certificate/SSN/vital stats/&c, can they (&/or will they) give me any information?
02. If someone else (someone who was not the beneficiary) was to find the documentation on the policy, would there be any way they could receive the funds instead of me? (I ask only because my mom's executor is her boyfriend, someone with whom I have had an extremely contentious relationship over the years. So far we have had no issues in settling the estate and no parts of it are being contested. But I guess I'm a little paranoid about it nevertheless - it's a whole lot of money. He says he has found no documents pertaining to this insurance thus far.)
Yes, I already have a lawyer. And an accountant. And a metric fuckton of leftover marble babka.
If you're executor, it would be your job to let life insurance companies know that the insured is deceased as it is -- but unless you know the company, you might have to resort to just making phone calls. Start with insurance agents whose business cards were in her possession, or the same company that handled homeowner's insurance (even if you called them to say she died, it won't necessarily initiate a death claim process).
However: insurance companies mail statements and information on a regular basis, at least annually, so you're likely to receive something that will give you a clue if you have to wait a couple months.
There is -- and this memory is fuzzy, going back to an insurance company I worked for 15 years ago -- a insurance-company database where companies can keep track of when a health check was done, or insurance was applied for, to avoid overinsuring or offering insurance to somebody who has shown up as diabetic in the last three places they applied. You might be able to get somebody to look up in there, but I'm not sure how you'd start that path.
As it is: people can dispute the beneficiary of a life insurance claim. It isn't always successful, and various things like wording on the original application and what the will says can weigh on whether an insurance company will alter the beneficiary. For somebody to step in and just claim the death benefit, they'd have to steal your identity to get around the dispute process; insurance companies aren't the most forthcoming when it comes to getting big checks from them, so they'll make very sure they're writing the check to the right person.
Claiming a death benefit is rarely a quick process anyway, so you have plenty of time for your detective work.
posted by AzraelBrown at 4:34 PM on October 4, 2010
However: insurance companies mail statements and information on a regular basis, at least annually, so you're likely to receive something that will give you a clue if you have to wait a couple months.
There is -- and this memory is fuzzy, going back to an insurance company I worked for 15 years ago -- a insurance-company database where companies can keep track of when a health check was done, or insurance was applied for, to avoid overinsuring or offering insurance to somebody who has shown up as diabetic in the last three places they applied. You might be able to get somebody to look up in there, but I'm not sure how you'd start that path.
As it is: people can dispute the beneficiary of a life insurance claim. It isn't always successful, and various things like wording on the original application and what the will says can weigh on whether an insurance company will alter the beneficiary. For somebody to step in and just claim the death benefit, they'd have to steal your identity to get around the dispute process; insurance companies aren't the most forthcoming when it comes to getting big checks from them, so they'll make very sure they're writing the check to the right person.
Claiming a death benefit is rarely a quick process anyway, so you have plenty of time for your detective work.
posted by AzraelBrown at 4:34 PM on October 4, 2010
I'm sorry for your loss. Your state has an Insurance Commission of some sort. You can find them on your state's website. Call them and ask for their help.
posted by theora55 at 4:49 PM on October 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 4:49 PM on October 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
First as usual, I am not your lawyer.
Second something like this happened when my Grandmother became late. But in that case, it involved savings accounts that she had opened in the names of her many grandchildren. In my case, I was lucky in that I knew the name of the bank -- my grandmother had taken me there once when I was about twelve. She became late when I was 28.
My grandmother did have a lawyer. He did have copies of some of the important things, such as insurance papers. But he did not know about the savings accounts. Most people do not tell their lawyers everything.
From my experience, I will give this advice:
1) You are not going to get zip over the telephone. You will have to show up in person. Your idea of randomly calling local insurance brokers is will not work.
2) Get a copy of the Yellow Pages, and start at the letter "A". (This is how a large minority of folk find businesses such as doctors, repairmen, insurance.) Then go and visit each office in person. Bring everything about your mother that you listed, but also bring a copy of her will.
Then be prepared to prove who you are. Driver's license is not enough. Also your birth certificate, blood sample, and the name of your first-born, at a minimum (and I'm only half-joking about the first-born). With each and every broker you visit, it will probably take longer to prove who you are, than to prove who your mother was.
3) To help limit the number of brokers you need to see: Did she have any other kind of insurance (car, home, etc.)? Start first with those brokers who sold her other insurance. Next (if not successful), since you exist, then you also had to have a father. See if you can find out where he bought his insurance(s). She possibly went there as well. Next -- well, you didn't tell me how old she was, nor whether she lived urban or rural -- but in rural areas (also for the elderly), distance is a factor. When you look at Yellow pages, consider travel. The further away, the less likely a prospect.
Next a bit of advice about the boyfriend:
1) If he is the Executor, he probably has access to the life insurance policy (60% chance, less if your mother was elderly when she became late).
2) There is almost nothing the boyfriend can do about re-directing the funds from that policy. Yes, he could go to court. But then, you would be notified by the court that someone is contesting the policy.
2a) The worst he can do, is burn the policy and hope you can't find anything else about it. --If he is that revenge minded.
3) I'm surprised you have not yet been contacted directly by the insurance company. They (and most banks) have employees whose job is to comb through obituaries, and then restrict access to accounts of folk who have become late. Nowadays, there is way too much fraud with insurance (of any kind). Insurance companies have to protect their butt, and so they know about your mother. They should have contacted you.
3a) Since not, there are two other possibilities: a) She cancelled the policy (They can be expensive. Did she retire, and with restricted income, had to make some tough choices?). b) She named a different beneficiary. Maybe even the boyfriend. A lot can happen in seven years.
Just food for thought.
posted by IvanKalinin at 5:08 PM on October 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
Second something like this happened when my Grandmother became late. But in that case, it involved savings accounts that she had opened in the names of her many grandchildren. In my case, I was lucky in that I knew the name of the bank -- my grandmother had taken me there once when I was about twelve. She became late when I was 28.
My grandmother did have a lawyer. He did have copies of some of the important things, such as insurance papers. But he did not know about the savings accounts. Most people do not tell their lawyers everything.
From my experience, I will give this advice:
1) You are not going to get zip over the telephone. You will have to show up in person. Your idea of randomly calling local insurance brokers is will not work.
2) Get a copy of the Yellow Pages, and start at the letter "A". (This is how a large minority of folk find businesses such as doctors, repairmen, insurance.) Then go and visit each office in person. Bring everything about your mother that you listed, but also bring a copy of her will.
Then be prepared to prove who you are. Driver's license is not enough. Also your birth certificate, blood sample, and the name of your first-born, at a minimum (and I'm only half-joking about the first-born). With each and every broker you visit, it will probably take longer to prove who you are, than to prove who your mother was.
3) To help limit the number of brokers you need to see: Did she have any other kind of insurance (car, home, etc.)? Start first with those brokers who sold her other insurance. Next (if not successful), since you exist, then you also had to have a father. See if you can find out where he bought his insurance(s). She possibly went there as well. Next -- well, you didn't tell me how old she was, nor whether she lived urban or rural -- but in rural areas (also for the elderly), distance is a factor. When you look at Yellow pages, consider travel. The further away, the less likely a prospect.
Next a bit of advice about the boyfriend:
1) If he is the Executor, he probably has access to the life insurance policy (60% chance, less if your mother was elderly when she became late).
2) There is almost nothing the boyfriend can do about re-directing the funds from that policy. Yes, he could go to court. But then, you would be notified by the court that someone is contesting the policy.
2a) The worst he can do, is burn the policy and hope you can't find anything else about it. --If he is that revenge minded.
3) I'm surprised you have not yet been contacted directly by the insurance company. They (and most banks) have employees whose job is to comb through obituaries, and then restrict access to accounts of folk who have become late. Nowadays, there is way too much fraud with insurance (of any kind). Insurance companies have to protect their butt, and so they know about your mother. They should have contacted you.
3a) Since not, there are two other possibilities: a) She cancelled the policy (They can be expensive. Did she retire, and with restricted income, had to make some tough choices?). b) She named a different beneficiary. Maybe even the boyfriend. A lot can happen in seven years.
Just food for thought.
posted by IvanKalinin at 5:08 PM on October 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
Best answer: If you can't find any policy paperwork (have you checked her safe deposit box?) you could try going through that last 13 months or so of bank statements (I'd suggest the checking account) looking for evidence of payments to an insurance company. Almost all insurance policies require regular payments (i.e. monthly, quarterly, annually, etc.) and most auto-pay via a bank draft / ACH transfer. This would allow you to identify the company holding the policy, if it exists. You can then contact them in your role as the executor.
posted by RichardP at 5:35 PM on October 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by RichardP at 5:35 PM on October 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
Your state insurance commission/agency should have a site like this. Find it, submit your request and wait for the letters to start rolling in.
posted by ajr at 6:00 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by ajr at 6:00 PM on October 4, 2010
Best answer: Here are two resources for this:
http://www.mibsolutions.com/lost-life-insurance/
https://eapps.naic.org/orphanedpolicy/
posted by JaneL at 6:51 PM on October 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
http://www.mibsolutions.com/lost-life-insurance/
https://eapps.naic.org/orphanedpolicy/
posted by JaneL at 6:51 PM on October 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
You'll need a death certificate and a letter of administration would help, even though technically it isn't estate property.
But call your lawyer and have him or her do it.
posted by Ironmouth at 7:00 PM on October 4, 2010
But call your lawyer and have him or her do it.
posted by Ironmouth at 7:00 PM on October 4, 2010
Response by poster: - I am not the executor of the estate, that's the difficult boyfriend.
- Of the two lawyers she used (the one who did the will and the one who is a trustee for me) neither know anything about a policy
- she would not have cancelled the policy
- she also would not have named a new beneficiary; she just would've left him more of her estate
I have something like 10 years worth of bank statements; I'll start checking through them. I don't think she still has the safe deposit box as I've already found most of the papers that had been in it - my and my dad's citizenship documents and birth certificates, &c. (My dad is not a source of info in this situation as he died when I was 14.)
Oh well. It looks like I will probably have to figure this out with the executor.
posted by elizardbits at 4:00 AM on October 5, 2010
- Of the two lawyers she used (the one who did the will and the one who is a trustee for me) neither know anything about a policy
- she would not have cancelled the policy
- she also would not have named a new beneficiary; she just would've left him more of her estate
I have something like 10 years worth of bank statements; I'll start checking through them. I don't think she still has the safe deposit box as I've already found most of the papers that had been in it - my and my dad's citizenship documents and birth certificates, &c. (My dad is not a source of info in this situation as he died when I was 14.)
Oh well. It looks like I will probably have to figure this out with the executor.
posted by elizardbits at 4:00 AM on October 5, 2010
One more idea, which will sound completely random -- if you can find even the slightest clue in the bank statements, etc., try taking that information to the funeral home. No, really.
The last time we had a death in the family, the funeral home was able to help us track down a life insurance policy with barely any information, even though the original company had changed names several times through the years. They did this even for a policy that was NOT going to be signed over to them (we had already covered the funeral expenses) -- it was simply a service they provided to the family of the deceased.
Best of luck, and I'm very sorry for your loss.
posted by somanyamys at 6:58 AM on October 5, 2010
The last time we had a death in the family, the funeral home was able to help us track down a life insurance policy with barely any information, even though the original company had changed names several times through the years. They did this even for a policy that was NOT going to be signed over to them (we had already covered the funeral expenses) -- it was simply a service they provided to the family of the deceased.
Best of luck, and I'm very sorry for your loss.
posted by somanyamys at 6:58 AM on October 5, 2010
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posted by wocka wocka wocka at 4:16 PM on October 4, 2010