The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Life Insurance Policy Locator connects consumers with lost life insurance.
The NAIC has a free online search database that you can use to help find an unclaimed life insurance policy. All you have to do is simply go to their website and submit a request. You'll need the deceased's death certificate, social security number, full name, date of birth, and date of death.
To help solve this issue, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) created the Life Insurance Policy Locator, a free online tool that helps consumers find their deceased loved one's life insurance policies and annuity contracts.
Search with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC): NAIC has an online Life Insurance Policy Locator Service that uses the deceased's name to search the records of participating life insurance companies. This service is free, confidential, and easy to use.
Use a life insurance policy locator
Life insurance policy locator services help potential beneficiaries track down lost policies and find out who the beneficiaries are. Start with the Life Insurance Policy Locator from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).
In your web browser, navigate to naic.org, hover over Consumer, and click Life Insurance Policy Locator under Tools. Submit a search request by entering the deceased's information from the death certificate: Social Security number.
Beneficiary-specific information is confidential, or private and personal. Under the Privacy Act of 1974, beneficiaries have a number of rights and privileges regarding the information they submit to a federal agency, such as CMS.
There is no time limit for beneficiaries to file a life insurance claim. However, the sooner you file a claim for a death benefit, the sooner you will receive your money. Filing as soon as possible makes sense because the insurer could need a month or longer to investigate the claim before paying out.
In many cases, it takes anywhere from 14 to 60 days for beneficiaries to receive a life insurance payout. But many factors impact this time frame. These include the insurance company's procedures, when the claim is filed, how long the policy was active, the cause of death, and state laws regarding insurance payouts.
A permanent or whole life policyholder may take out loans or withdrawals against the cash value of the policy while he or she is still alive. After the insured passes away the whole life insurance death benefit is distributed to beneficiaries, but any excess cash value may be retained by the insurance company.
Beneficiary of a Will
If you're not sure you were named as a beneficiary in someone's Will, check with the probate court in the county where the decedent lived. Since it is a public record, you can request to see the Will's filing. If you find your name as a beneficiary, contact the executor.
A life insurance policy is no different. If the owner and the insured are two different people and the owner dies first, the policy ownership has to pass to a successor owner until the death of the insured results in the proceeds being paid to a beneficiary.
Normally, you can't cancel a life insurance policy someone else has taken out on you. In the eyes of the insurance provider, the individual who originated the policy is its owner. Once you provide your consent to the coverage, that originator of the policy is the only person with the power to cancel or change it.
Choosing who will receive your assets or the payout (called a “death benefit”) from your life insurance policies is a decision you should consider carefully, because a beneficiary designation can't be changed or corrected after you're gone.
You may have an idea that there's a life insurance policy and that you were meant to be a beneficiary, but you don't know for sure. Now, what? Many life insurance companies try to contact beneficiaries if the beneficiaries don't contact them first.
When does life insurance cover suicide? Suicide is not typically covered in the first two years of a life insurance policy. This two-year period is generally referred to as the suicide clause. After two years, a life insurance policy will pay out a death benefit for a suicidal death.
Life insurance proceeds usually go directly to the named beneficiaries, bypassing the estate and probate process. However, if there are no named beneficiaries, the proceeds may go into the estate.
In general, life insurance beneficiaries generally overrule a will. For instance, if your will states that you want your partner to receive your death benefit, but the policy itself lists your sibling as the only beneficiary, your sibling will be eligible to receive the death benefit and your partner will not.
Instances of lying, criminal activity, or dangerous behavior that's not disclosed upfront could all be reasons life insurance won't pay out. Here are nine reasons life insurance may not issue a payment to beneficiaries and ways you can avoid having this happen to your loved ones.
If there's no investigation into your death, it's unlikely that your life insurance provider will care to review these records.
Beneficiary designations most often supersede all outside Estate Plans and agreements (including divorce and prenuptial agreements). And don't worry, as long as you're living, your beneficiary doesn't have access to your account unless you've set them up as a cosigner.
In some cases, the policy is worth up to 60% of its death benefit on the secondary market. Life settlement proceeds can be used for any purpose, including debt paydown, healthcare bills, or even bucket-list spending. Viatical settlement proceeds are normally used to pay for end-of-life care.
When designating a beneficiary, you should provide your beneficiary's full legal name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, and relationship to you. This information makes it easy for your insurance provider to verify their identity when they try to collect.
It's possible to dispute or contest a life insurance policy. However, doing so requires a legal court process. Since the process is quite complex, you should hire an experienced attorney to help you out.
In general, you can only take out a life insurance policy on a person for whom you have proof of insurable interest. In other words, you must be at risk of a financial loss after the death of the insured person.