Hi One Of My Friends Uncle Died And Her Family Didnt Know That He Had Life Insurance. They Just Found A Paper?
Posted March 1, 2010 – 10:18 am in: structured settlements FAQthat states he was paying for life insurance. He’s been dead for over a year now. My friend mother called the number on the life insurance form telling them that her brother is dead, and the people told her that they will mail her some papers but they didnt tell her how much it was for. does that mean its alot of money they’re getting from the death. what do yall think?
Tags: Didn't, Died, Family, Friends, Insurance, Know, Life, That, They, Uncle
4 Comments
No one here can give you a definitive answer to your question. The family will need to wait to receive the paperwork since it will probably contain the amount of the claim on it. The named beneficiary will probably need to sign the forms and also include a certified copy of the death certificate in order to receive payment. Also contrary to the statement made by another poster, insurance companies don’t try to weasel out of paying claims nor will they in this case state that the premiums had not been paid nor do you need an attorney for 99.9% of life insurance claims. The fact that they are mailing you the forms confirms the policy was in force and as long as it was in force on the day the uncle passed, they cannot refuse to pay due to non-payment of premium.
There are only limited reasons why a life policy would not pay out:
1) if the policy was cancelled due to non-pay at the time of death
2) if the policy is an accidental death policy and the person died of natural causes or suicide
3) if the policy is a whole life, term or universal life and the person dies during the first 2 years of the policy due to a condition that existed prior to the inception of the policy and was not declared to the company, i.e. they had cancer prior to getting the policy and hid this information from the insurance company or if they committed suicide during those first two years. Once one of these types of policies has been in force more than 2 years, they become incontestable which means that the company cannot deny payment no matter how they die.
4) If the insured is murdered by the beneficiary under any life policy form, the policy benefit cannot be paid to that beneficiary but must be paid to the contingent beneficiary or to the Estate of the insured if a contingent beneficiary was not named.
Also just to let you know life insurance proceeds are not subject to income taxes. And life insurance does not go through the probate process therefore the only way the executor could find out the amount of coverage would be if the executor was the named beneficiary or if the policy names the Estate as as beneficiary.
I hope this information helps. Good Luck!
It’s impossible to know how much the policy was for. the fact that they are sending out some paperwork, only means that there was a policy in force which is certainly a good thing. What papers do you have? Does it list the beneficiaries or anyone else on there other than uncles name? If anyone else is listed they can get answers on how much the policy was worth.
You will just have to wait until the forms come from the insurance company – you may want to line up an attorney right now, as most insurance companies will try to weasel out of their commitment – stating that the deceased didn’t pay the last years premiums. And yes, insurance companies rarely send notices that premiums are due, it’s just not in their best interest.
They CANNOT tell her, under the privacy laws. Only the executor of his estate, and the beneficiary, will know how much gets paid out.