Question by Mary Anne: How can my friend find out if her late father has a life insurance policy?
My friend’s father died recently. Twenty years ago, her father took out a small life insurance policy to pay for his funeral expenses. The beneficiary is my friend’s stepmother. The stepmother doesn’t even recall a life insurance policy. She wonders if he had cashed it out. How can my friend find out if a life insurance policy still exists? Those unclaimed fund sites don’t usually include life insurance policies, and the life insurance company may not know that a death has occurred.
Someone’s answer:
Answer by justwondering
You are right about the unclaimed sites – the best you could do is to go through his papers and canceled checks to find payments or policy information – maybe check a safety deposit box or old shoe box in the closet – no telling what he used as a file cabinet.
What do you think? Your comment is most welcomed!
There is no central database for information on life policies going back this far, i.e. the MIB (Medical Information Bureau) only keeps records on life insurance applications going back 11 years. However, I do have a few suggestions 1) check his financial records–cancelled checks, bank statements, the attic, the basement for old boxes of records, etc. 2) check at the bank and see if he had a safe deposit box 3) check at work and see if he had a policy there 4) check with his auto & home insurance agent and see if he had the policy through that agent or if that agent recommended someone to him 5) check with the family attorney he might have told him/her while preparing his will 6) check with the accountant he might have told him while asking questions about the tax implications of a policy or maybe the accountant referred him to an agent and 7) if nothing else you would have to call up the companies to check–be forewarned though this is a lot of work. First get a list of the licensed life insurance carriers in your state from the Insurance Commissioner and then try to call the most well known first. Make sure you have his social security number, date of birth and full name on hand prior to making these calls and realize that in the entire U.S. there are over 1800 life insurance companies–of course there might be far fewer in your state but it will still be like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Sorry.
I hope this helps your friend.
Well, you’re right – unclaimed fund sites don’t include life insurance policies, and life insurance companies don’t get notified of deaths until someone FILES A CLAIM.
Your friend will have to be named executor of the estate, to get access to the banking records and personal papers. Or, the stepmother can look through to see which insurance company was paid.
Those funeral policies – if he paid it for 10 years, and it was $5,000 payout, cash value MIGHT have been $200. Many people let these lapse, because it’s cheaper to just put money in the bank to pay for it.
There is no central database. So there’s no way to “look it up” besides his old records.
It would be so much easier it they had the name of the insurance company to call. Was it from his job? It sounds like they will have to look thu his stuff, in the bank box if he had one, check with the car insurance company, some times they also offer life insurance. The wife/mother will or should know this. Good luck
There are a few companies that specialize in this kind of insurance. Your State Insurance commission can provide you with a list and then just get on the phone.
You must have an insurable interest in the deceased to receive this information. Good Luck
About 20 yrs ago? Most folks I know used the same agent to insure their car, home, and life insurance…trusting only one agent at a time under the Old Fashion way. You might be able to backtrack and contact the old agent as they have a tendency of holding on to old paperwork. Who knows, it could still be the same agent that step-mom has now.