Do you know what to do to find a lost life insurance policy? You may not think too much about this, but for many people, this is an everyday thing. They lose a loved one and know they had a life insurance policy, but can’t find it. They have no idea who the life insurance company wrote the policy.
This happens a lot. In fact, more than a quarter of all life insurance death benefits are never claimed. This is incredible. The policies were paid out over the years on the death of the insured to protect the family from him and now no one has any idea where the missing life insurance policy is.
Under federal law, all unclaimed death benefits are placed in a trust until claimed. Consider that last year almost $23 billion was invested in the fund, and only $1 billion was claimed.
What can you do if you know a life insurance policy is missing?
1. If you have access to their personal records, check old bank statements or canceled checks to see if they paid any insurance companies.
2. Did they have a personal attorney or accountant who might have known of any old policies?
3. Talk to a previous employer about any group life insurance policies that may have existed.
4. Contact the Medical Information Office. They keep track of all medical records requested by insurance companies for the past 7 years. So if they took out the policy during this time period, the MIB most likely knows about it. You can find more information about them online.
5. Look at the mail that continues to be delivered after the person’s death. If it was a policy that was still being paid, you’ll see premium notices.
6. Look at income tax returns to see if interest dividends were claimed on any life policies.
There is no time limit to claim the benefits of any missing life insurance policy of which you are a beneficiary. It may be 25 years later and the company will still pay you the revenue.
Finding a lost life insurance policy may not be the easiest thing to do, but with patience and a little detective work, you should be able to locate it in a short amount of time.
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