How To Find Out If Someone Has Life Insurance

If a person with a life insurance policy dies, but his or her beneficiaries are unaware of the coverage, it is an unclaimed life insurance policy. This is relatively common and can happen for several reasons.

The amount of unclaimed life insurance benefits in the United States topped $1 billion dollars by 2013, according to Consumer Reports. At the time, the average payout was $2,000 and some were as much as $300,000.

Consumer Reports estimates that the odds that you are a beneficiary of an unclaimed life insurance payout is about one in 600 — better than your chances of winning the Powerball lottery.

There are several ways to find a life insurance policy when someone dies. These include internet tools and some detective work on your own.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) — a group that represents the chief insurance regulators of each of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories — has an online tool that can help track down unclaimed life insurance policies.

Once you fill out an online form on the policy locator tool, the NAIC will ask participating insurance companies to scour their records to see if they have a life insurance policy in the name of the deceased person you listed on the form. The companies will also look for policies that name you as a beneficiary.

The NAIC tool has been around since 2016. More than 145,000 people had used it as of July 31, 2020. In that time, the policy locator had found 46,665 matches with claims totaling $650,520,451.

The NAIC locator tool only works with participating life insurance companies. If it doesn’t turn up a match, you can still do some work on your own to track down a missing or lost life insurance policy.

If the insurance company has changed its name, has gone out of business or has been bought out by another insurer, you may be able to do an internet search to find out what company currently has its assets and policies.

Once you have the new name, find the state of the company’s home office and contact that state’s insurance commission or department.

You can find a list of insurance company names and home office addresses in “A.M. Best’s Insurance Reports,” an annually updated report on companies. It is available in many larger libraries.

To claim a death benefit payout from a life insurance policy you will need two things: A copy of the life insurance policy and a copy of the policyholder’s death certificate.

A death certificate is a legal document recording a person’s death. Obtaining a death certificate copy is likely easier and more straightforward than tracking down a lost or unclaimed life insurance policy.

Death certificates are public records in some, but not all states. In some states, you will need to provide proof of your relationship to the deceased. In those cases, generally only immediate family members, government agencies, the executor of the deceased’s estate and funeral directors can request an official copy.

To request a copy, you’ll need to show a valid government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license and proof of your relationship to the deceased such as a birth certificate or marriage license.

The life insurance company will also have its own rules on how to submit the death certificate. This varies from company to company, so you should check with the company about its requirements before submitting the death certificate along with the policy.