How To Find Life Insurance Policies

There are many ways to find out if a life insurance policy exists. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) database and the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) databases can help you find a policy. In addition, you can contact the deceased’s employer or look for policy documents for specific information.

“The first place to start looking is the NAIC database,” Steve Rohrig told RetireGuide. Rohrig is an associate director of training at Senior Market Sales, as well as a certified life underwriter, chartered financial consultant and retirement income certified professional.

The most well-known service is the NAIC policy locator. To use the database, you’ll need to make an account and enter your personal information.

Once the policy is found, the life insurance company will contact you within 90 days. You do not need to contact the life insurance company yourself.

You can also use the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) policy locator tool. If the insurance company knows the insured passed but can’t find the beneficiary, this is where the death benefit will be located.

You’ll need to know the state where the life insurance policy was initially purchased to properly search through NAUPA’s policy locator tool. If you’re unsure, you can guess and keep searching until the policy is found.

You can also call your state’s insurance department. They can help you find the provider. The Insurance Information Institute has a list of each state’s department of insurance with their phone numbers.

If you know the name of the life insurance company, you can contact them directly to see if the policy exists.

Life insurance coverage was available to 57% of private industry workers and 79% in management, professional, and related occupations, according to a 2022 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. With those high percentages, there’s a chance your loved one could have had coverage through their workplace.

Make sure you ask to speak to an HR representative and have documentation ready to prove your relations to the deceased.

“Check in their filing system for annual statements, premium bills and bank accounts for anything that mentions policies in force,” Rohrig told RetireGuide.

You can also check their safety deposit box or contact the deceased’s auto or home insurance agent to see if they purchased life insurance coverage through them.

Once you find the life insurance policy, you need to contact the life insurance company to file a claim. Some issuers allow you to start this process online.

Whether you have all your required documents in order dictates how long it will take for your life insurance to pay out.

If you need help filling out the claim forms, contact a certified life insurance agent.

Once your claim is submitted, you’ll need to choose how you want the death benefit paid out to you. There are four main payout types.

“Your roadblocks are going to be privacy issues and data security. Make sure you have the death certificate and proper documentation,” Rohrig told RetireGuide.

“To make sure you have the proper documents, call ahead of time and ask what’s needed. You should expect some proof of who you are and your relation to the deceased.”

There are other common issues when looking for a policy, like if the policy has lapsed or if the company went out of business. Learn how to navigate these roadblocks and secure your benefit.

There is a grace period with most life insurance policies when the insurer will still review your payout claim, even if the policy has lapsed. According to Progressive, the grace period typically ranges between 30 to 90 days.

Confirm the grace period for the policy, you could still be entitled to a payout even if the policy has lapsed. If the policy is no longer in force, you likely won’t get a payout.

Life insurance policies allow for multiple beneficiaries. For example, the insured had listed a primary beneficiary and planned to make you the secondary beneficiary.

But if the primary beneficiary passes away and the insured failed to officially make you the secondary beneficiary before passing, this outdated information can make the payout go unclaimed.

Generally, if the insured made a mistake and you aren’t listed as a beneficiary, you won’t be entitled to a payout.

Follow up with your state’s unclaimed property laws to see how unclaimed life insurance is handled.

Some buy multiple life insurance policies and ladder them for additional coverage. If you know multiple policies exist and only find one, it can still help you find the rest.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, the application includes a list of any other life insurance policies owned at the time of the application.

This can provide you with the names of the other policies, so you can reach out to them directly for more information.

If the life insurance company who issued the policy changed names, contact the insurance department in the insurance company’s home state.

The state insurance department will have records of the company’s current name, mergers and other details so you will know which company to contact.

The NAIC has an online tool to help you find links to each state’s insurance department.

If the issuing company goes out of business, a reinsurance company will help you receive some, if not all the death benefit. If there’s a shortfall of funds to pay death benefits to policyholders, the state guaranty associations will step in.

According to the National Organization of Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Associations, each state has different laws for guaranteed coverage, but typically $300,000 is covered for life insurance death benefits.