How to find out whether a loved one had life insurance

After a death, someone in the family usually asks, “Did they have life insurance?” Often nobody is sure. People buy a policy and never mention it, or they have coverage through work that they barely knew about themselves. Finding it can take some detective work. Here is where I suggest looking.

Start with the paper and the money

The best evidence of a policy is usually a payment. Go through the person’s bank and credit card statements for the last few years and look for recurring charges to an insurance company. Look for an annual statement, a premium notice, a policy packet in a drawer, or a letter that mentions a “policy number” or “certificate.” Check email, too, for messages from insurers and for online accounts.

Other places worth a look:

• A safe deposit box, file cabinet or fireproof box.
• The person’s financial advisor, accountant or insurance agent, if they had one.
• An estate planning attorney who prepared a will or trust. The documents sometimes list policies or name a trust as beneficiary.
• Mail that keeps arriving after the death. Insurers send renewal and premium notices on a schedule.

Ask every employer, including past ones

Coverage through work is the policy families miss most often. Many employers provide a basic amount of group life insurance automatically, and employees can often buy extra coverage, coverage for a spouse, or accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) coverage through payroll. None of it may appear in a bank statement because the premium came out of a paycheck.

Call the human resources or benefits office of the person’s current employer and ask, specifically, about:

• Basic group life insurance.
• Supplemental or optional life insurance the employee elected.
• AD&D coverage, which may pay a separate benefit for an accidental death.
• Any coverage for the employee’s spouse or children, if a family member is the one who died.

Then ask the same questions of recent past employers, especially if the person retired. Some retirees keep a reduced amount of group life coverage, and some converted group coverage to an individual policy when they left. Unions, professional associations and credit unions sometimes offer group coverage too.

If you are a beneficiary of coverage under a private employer’s plan, you can ask the plan administrator in writing for the summary plan description and the plan documents. Federal law requires the administrator to furnish them on written request from a participant or beneficiary, for a reasonable copying charge (29 U.S.C. § 1024(b)(4)).

Federal employees and retirees

If the person was a federal civilian employee or retiree, they may have had Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI). The U.S. Office of Personnel Management explains that for a current employee, you report the death to the employing agency’s human resources office, which sends the claim form to anyone who appears eligible. For a retiree, you report the death to OPM. Claims are paid by the Office of Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance, and the claim form goes in with a certified copy of the death certificate (OPM, Death Claims).

Use the free NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners runs a free online tool that asks participating life insurers to check their records for a policy on someone who has died (NAIC, Learn How to Use the NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator). According to the NAIC:

• It is free to use.
• You will need information from the death certificate: the person’s Social Security number or ITIN, legal first and last name, date of birth and date of death, and whether they were a veteran. You will also be asked your relationship to the person.
• You only hear back if there is a match and you are the beneficiary. If an insurer finds a policy and you are the beneficiary, the insurer contacts you directly. If nothing is found, or you are not the beneficiary, you will not be contacted.
• The NAIC itself does not hold policy information, and the tool cannot be used to search for policies on living people.

You can start a request at the NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator. Because silence can mean either “no policy” or “not your policy,” keep looking elsewhere while you wait.

Search state unclaimed property

When an insurer cannot find a beneficiary, the money can eventually be turned over to a state as unclaimed property. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators lists insurance payments and life insurance policies among the common kinds of unclaimed property (NAUPA, What Is Unclaimed Property?). Searching is free through each state’s official unclaimed property program, and most states participate in MissingMoney.com, a free multi-state search sponsored by NAUPA (NAUPA, Search for Your Unclaimed Property).

Search under the deceased person’s name in every state where they lived or worked, and search under your own name, too. Be cautious of anyone who offers to find money for a fee. The official state searches cost nothing.

Once you find a policy

Finding the policy is the start of the claim, not the end. A few steps help it go smoothly:

1. Ask the insurer for a claim packet and a copy of the policy. Request the full policy, including any riders and the original application.
2. Order several certified copies of the death certificate. Many insurers and employers each want an original certified copy.
3. Confirm who the named beneficiary is. In most cases the insurer pays whoever is named on its beneficiary form.
4. Write down dates. Note when you first contacted the insurer and when it received your claim form and the death certificate. Those dates can matter if the claim is delayed.

If the insurer tells you the policy lapsed, ask for copies of the premium notices and any lapse notices it says it sent. A lapse is a reason we see claims denied, and it is worth checking rather than accepting on the phone. Our pages on delayed and denied claims explain what happens if the claim does not go smoothly.

Sources

1. National Association of Insurance Commissioners, "Learn How to Use the NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator." NAIC. Tool: NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator.
2. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, "Death Claims" (FEGLI). OPM.
3. National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, "What Is Unclaimed Property?" NAUPA, and "Search for Your Unclaimed Property." NAUPA.
4. 29 U.S.C. § 1024(b)(4). Legal Information Institute.

Written by Stephanie Prestridge, an attorney at Life Claim. Treat this post as general information rather than legal advice; reading it does not make you a client of the firm. Policies, plans and state laws vary and are amended over time, and the outcome of any claim depends on its particular facts. Sources were checked on the date shown above.

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